


Ripples Between Daylight and Deep Sea

by DeadSexy



Series: Ripples [1]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Anxiety Attacks, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Development, Cthulhu Mythos, Depression, Drug Use, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, I love her but she's not a major player, I will add additional character tags when they make an appearance, Magical Artifacts, Monsters, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts, don't expect a lot of curie, drugs that alter mental perception, lots and lots of plot, plot heavy, true fucking love, well shit I can't explain to you how much I love the fallout universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-08-29 08:13:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 44,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8482108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadSexy/pseuds/DeadSexy
Summary: The city always felt as though it was teetering just over the ocean. Entire communities lived within the attics and rafters of sunken homes. Even inland, as the ground rose above the drowned buildings; dark water was never far away. It flowed below the ground. Through the old sewer and subway stations the water followed and whispered to the dreamers that dared to stay so close.A/N: This is a canon divergent AU. I will follow the very basic main story beats (often completed by companions instead of SoSu), but by the end of Act 2 the plot will change entirely from canon.





	1. Mother Born of Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR?  
> Nate watches Vi make the largest mistake of her life.  
> Vomit (coming out the freezer)  
> Codsworth & more vomit  
> You meet Preston and Mama Murphey is a badass. (you should go ahead and read this bit)

Des,

_(translated from code)_

There’s been loads of activity around the sanctuary passage. Known Institute informants have been sending messages about 111. I’m setting some eyes on the place. Even my own if I can spare them. It’s been ten years since the last known access. If it’s important enough for the bad guys to talk about, it’s important enough for us to watch.

Mr. D.

* * *

 

_Vault-tec lied us their loyal employees, their engineers, their vehicles for torture._

_Somewhere through the years I spent with them I always knew, but denied it. How could I bring myself to admit culpability in the horrors that followed? To admit that truth would be to admit the monsters are real, and I stand among their rank._

A sense of reality eduled those who saw the destruction before being saved from it. For Vi, her sense of self was gone. The emptiness in her nerves and dimness of her thoughts were symptoms of the shock. As a vault suit was passed into open arms, she was ushered into a nearby changing room with the other women like cattle. They made no sounds. They simply obeyed.

Vi looked over at her colleague, Henrietta. Henry’s face mirrored dismay as all the color drained away. Henry was a bio engineer and she would know more about the real working of what the “decontamination” chambers off in the distance were. The women glanced at the chambers as they walked past, but quickly looked away. It was obvious they were some form of cryogenics. These pods had never been part of the description of vault 111.

Years ago Vault-Tec moved what they considered “important minds” into small communities across America. The opportunity to get a cheap home in a good community while Nate was away at The War was too good to pass up. The added benefit, as Vault-Tec pointed out after the fact, was that each community was to get their very own vault so the employees and their families could be safe.

 _Safe_. Vi’s eyebrows furrowed. Her hands shook as she recalled schematics and projects she’d been part of. Her heart and mind went cold with the realization that this was happening. She ignored the hundreds of proposals that passed her desk.

These prototypes were not being researched or tested, as she had originally assured herself. Instead, they were being actively moved into vaults. To be used on real people during real disaster situations.

Both women changed in silence, afraid of the truth that was emerging. As they left the dressing rooms, the painful quiet was broken.

“What do we do, Vi?” Henry turned to ask, a clear tremble in her voice.

“What can we do?” Hoarse and forced was Vi’s voice. It was difficult to make eye contact with her friend. “We can’t go back outside, those people...everyone...they’re likely all dead.”

“We could refuse to co-operate. Don’t get in the pods.” Laurence from advanced theories jogged up behind the women and joined the conversation.

“And then what?” Turning on Laurence, Vi frowned, but kept her voice hushed. “Kill the employees? Starve to death? I doubt they have the resources for all of us to be awake for more than a few weeks. The amount of bombs that were dropping...the radiation levels won’t be safe for at least 9 years, if not 15 or more, and I’m counting on having a hazmat suit.”

“What if the reds used dirty bombs? It could be 200 years or more…” Henry added and then suddenly started crying. Vi instinctively pulled the other woman into her arms and held her steady.

“That’s even more reason for us to just do what we’re told.” Vi felt her stomach churn as she spoke. What good would it do to fight the inevitable? Death seemed assured either way. The only chance of survival now laid in these mysterious pods and the “honor” of their former employers. A deep burn rose into Vi’s chest.

“My god, why would Vault-Tec do this to us? Why didn’t they tell us?” Laurence whispered as he got to his pod and veered off to meet his wife.

Vi turned to Henrietta; her colleague and friend. Henry was so trusting, caring, and innocent. Vi forced herself to sound stoic. “Go hug your wife, Henry. We may not wake up for a very long time.” Henry nodded past the tears.

Looking over at Nate and Shaun, Vi’s shoulders started to sag. With slow steady breaths she composed herself enough to say her own goodbyes without a single tear. She put to memory the soft worrying smile of Nate, the small coos of their child and the smell of them both as they hugged. Kissing Shaun and brushing her fingers across the soft skin of his little head, Vi counted herself very lucky that she was given even this small chance to say goodbye.

As the pod doors closed, Vi fixed on Nate and the expression on his face.

_Oh god, He knows._

In his soft smile and kind eyes, he assured her of his trust. He knew something was wrong, but trusted her all the same.

It was then she realized the horrible mistake she made in complying. Her hand slapped violently against the glass over and over hoping to open the door. A panic set in as Vi screamed, but the sound did not penetrate the pod.

His wife pleaded and cried for the vault employees to stop the procedure, and Nate held Shaun tighter.

 

* * *

 

In the earth, a light flickered softly. Its intensity low, but jarring in the infinite stillness. Words of warning scrolled rapidly down an ignored screen and machinery came to life in slavish compliance. Drugs coursed through long dormant veins as the flame of life ignited.

“No!”

Her arms reached out in an effort to stop the past, but no arms have ever been that long. Minutes, hours, or even weeks may have passed since they destroyed her life. Slumping back weakly into the cryochamber, her hands picked the frozen sweat free of her cheek. Behind her blank eyes her mind fought to remain whole. Ravaged by the conflicting compulsions, all she managed was slow, steady breathing. Fists wrapping into balls, she took her first step.

Reaching out to steady herself, Vi almost made it out of the pod before the violent retching convulsed her. Doubling over back into the pod, she managed to avoid most of the splash. It might have been an effect of the freezing process, but it was just one more thing of her old life leaving her. She stood, arching her back, with her face flushed from exertion. The cracking spine could be heard echoing in the stillness of the metallic room. Taking in another deep breath, she attempted to walk the short distance to her husband’s pod.

Wiping away the frost on the window, her vision blurred as his frozen face became visible. A never-ending scream distorted his normally handsome face. As Vi started the process to open the pod, something seemed off. The pod door almost immediately began opening. Blood was covering the vault suit as he came fully into view. For only a moment she bore witness to his preserved expression of anguish before a sharp snap of a frozen knee sent him downward with a sickeningly heavy thud. Fingers that had once held hers went skittering across the unmoved metal floor in tiny icy bits. The dead eyes of her former friends and co-workers looked onto the scene as she pounced into a frantic wreck on the floor amongst the frostbit gore that had been Nate.

“Finger, finger, finger!”, could be heard between the sobs and deep intakes of breath although just barely. They repeated in a sort of desperate prayer-chant. Weak and pitiful, but constant and determined her pleas continued despite the flood of bodily fluids now pouring out of every opening in her face. Dragging her arm across her eyes one last time to cast off the traitorous tears, she grasped Nate’s ring finger.

Her hand told her the truth, but her eyes demanded to see it. In her open palm, Nate’s left ring finger lay severed and bare. Vi’s soul began ripping from bottom to top and the sound of it erupted from her mouth in an inhuman screech. Dark, hungry things that had been slowly creeping closer fled in terror when faced with this piercing promise of pain unending.

Then, there was nothing but silence for a very long time. Rising to her feet unsteadily, she seemed to scan the room one more time. The terminal panels and data were quite clear.

_All dead. Everyone. Gone._

With neither sob or sniffle, her feet began to lead her back down the corridors that had brought her here. Somewhere in this modern dungeon, she would drop Nate’s finger. Somewhere amongst the dusty skeletons, she would pick up a gun. Somehow in this crypt, she would locate a pipboy and free herself. Vi would do all these things, but she would never remember them and would never try.

 

* * *

 

“Mum, Mum!”

Her eyes were still scanning the ground as she walked when the sound bashed its way into her consciousness again.

“Mum, Mum is that truly you?”

As Vi emerged from the darkness of her mind, she became aware, painfully so, that a brilliant sun was now beating down on her. Shielding her eyes, she looked up and directly into the eager eyestalk of Codsworth. His eye alone could not betray his pleasure, but his slight wobble showed either his joy or that his stabilizers were out of calibration. Vi’s mouth began to form words, but none came. With eyes focusing in on her surroundings, she could see the extent of the destruction. Trees, cars, and even homes had been tossed by the blast.

Her mind tried to calculate the time it must have taken for the vegetation to begin to grow again as Codsworth’s metallic body bobbed back and forth patiently.

“Yes Codsworth, it’s me.” Her eyes jerked around the environment, speaking from mere reflex.

“Ah good Mum, will your better half be joining us soon?”

Her current location and year no longer mattered as she admitted, “Someone’s taken Shaun.”

Codsworth’s swaying and bobbing calmed as he spoke, “My you look distraught. Perhaps the master can provide one of those hugs you humans are so fond of. Speaking of which, where is your better half?”

Vi cringed at hearing this and a shriek exploded from her. She bellowed about the stupidity of the robot and made sweeping, mindless allegations at it. She both verbally and physically assaulted the machine until the ten millimeter pistol in her hand went off. The shocking blast of noise snapped her out of her fury. Where had she picked up a gun? A sense of mental clarity finally came upon her.

“Shaun is gone and Nate is dead, Codsworth.” Her tone perfectly mirrored that of a mother speaking to a confused child. “Have you seen anyone strange? Have you noticed anyone that might have been taking Shaun away from the vault?” Despite her best efforts, Vi’s voice quivered nervously.

“It’s worse than I thought. You’re suffering from hunger induced paranoia.” Codsworth’s voice incited more anger, but Vi managed to hold her tongue as he continued, “I suppose that’s what being two-hundred years late for dinner will do to you.”

Vi could feel the truth of it even as she spoke with disbelief, “Has it been two-hundred years?”

“A bit...”, Codsworth’s flamer leapt to life, “...more than two-hundred and ten in truth, Mum.”

In the bushes a guttural growl and bark roared out. Followed closely by a digging noise.

“Your vegetable patch is in ruins thanks to those moles, Mum. It’s been just horrible, I had hoped that Mr. Nate would have returned with you and master Shaun in time for dinner, but the foods gone cold…”, Codsworth’s arms drooped in defeat, “...and rotted away entirely I’m afraid.”

Vi scanned the nearby remains of her neighbors’ former homes. “Are there others here? Has anyone else survived or been through here lately?”

“I’m afraid not Mum, but Sir Nate did leave you this.” One of Codsworth’s many metal panels slid open to reveal a compartment. Reaching inside, he produced a single data tape and handed it to her.

“To: Vi” was all that was written on the cover.

“Sir asked me to hold that for you in case…” Codsworth continued.

“Shh!” She interrupted suddenly. There was a definite low buzz somewhere nearby. At first she assumed that it was came from Codsworth’s propulsion systems, but it got much louder. Oil-slick wings and a black, bloated body carried the grotesque face into view. Vi stumbled back as the volleyball sized fly began to spit at Codsworth. Whooshing flames and the staccato of the pistol nearly drowned out her scream as the monstrous fly exploded like an ichor filled water balloon.

“Mum, your presence seems to have riled some of the vermin from the neighborhood.” Vi could see more of these flies emerging from further down her cove. “I would suggest that we relocate to Concord for the night. I can come back in the morning and attend to these pests for you.”

By the time Codsworth had finished his suggestion, Vi was already turning to run towards the opening to her old developement. She didn’t dare look behind her. The unevenness of the old, battered street realigned her focus forward. Instead, her mind became lost in the panic of the chase and the shock of the devastation wrought by that centuries old explosion. She filled ever more with doubt, and her limbs fell reflexively into jogging mode. Breathing became steady, almost meditative, and muscle memory carried her down her old running route.

Landmarks twisted in fire and worn by time coupled with buildings devoured by vegetation. Even well known stretches of town appeared alien. To avoid the darkest thoughts, her imagination continued to tumble helplessly toward vacancy. Struggling in vain to find purchase in a world that slipped away by the second, Vi ceased to think and ran only because of her most primal instincts.

 

* * *

 

“Hey! Hey! What are you doing? You’re going to get killed down there!”

The clear commanding voice made Vi halt. She looked down at the pavement under her. Sweat dripped from her chin and her hands were empty. Whatever she’d been carrying was long gone. Looking up at the night sky gave her a better estimate of how very long she’d been unaware of her own movements.

_Why do I keep blacking out? Is it an after effect of the cryo chamber?_

A wave of gunfire came from the street she was on, and Vi screamed at the suddenness of it.

“Hurry up, get in here and we can help you!” The man beckoned her, and she ran to him in haste.

Slipping past with Codsworth hot on her heels, they barely cleared the door before it was hastily closed and reinforced with old benches.

Unaware of her location before entering the building, Vi glanced around the main hall at all the tattered paintings and flags. It was hauntingly familiar and real. The old Museum of Freedom had lost all its luster, but the intact walls seemed a stark and comforting contrast to the devastation in her old neighborhood.

The gentle yet commanding tone of her rescuer brought her eyes around to him. Other people, three in all, followed his rushed orders to finish the reinforcement of the door and then gather their gear. The leader gave the improvised barrack one last check before turning to address Vi.

“Hey!” The leader reached out to grab Vi by the shoulders. Before he could say another word, he doubled over in pain. So startled by the sudden contact, she reflexively twisted his arm up and around back. He yelled loudly in pain, and she released him quickly jumping back.

One hand went up to ease the alarmed faces of his companions as the other rubbed his arm to ease the over stretched muscles checking for injury. Apparently satisfied, he grabbed his wide brimmed military hat off the ground and slowly stood to face her. Vi’s hand eased from fists as their eyes met.

“Okay, so you’re not the touchy-feely type, I’m good with that. I just need to know what you’re on - if you’re on something. We got a plan to get out of this alive but I need to know that you can keep up. If you go wandering into gunfire again, there’s not gonna be a damn thing we can do for you.” The man’s face, a face that should have shown anger, was only filled with compassion.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Stopping suddenly, Vi brushed an errant strand of hair from her face and dusted off her vault suit as her practiced demeanor took control. “I’m sober and willing to help if it’s to get away from that gunfire.”

“Okay, good.” The kind faced man gave an acknowledging nod. “That is Jun, next to him is his wife Marcy, and over there somewhere under all that grease is Struges, we need to get up to the roof where Mama Murphy is waiting for us. She’s got a surprise up there that will swing these odds in our favor, but she can’t do it alone.” His eyes checked at her sides before reaching for a strange looking rifle propped on a nearby display. “Take this. You’re gonna need something with a bit of reach. You got a name?”

Vi gave the rifle a quick once over before noticing Jun, Marcy, and Struges were already heading towards the large stairway at the back of the building.

“Vi.” She said quietly. That was all she was now. One name, one word. All of her titles and surnames were rendered pointless while she slept.

“Alright, Vi, my name’s Preston, and it’s going to be okay.” Without warning, he grabbed his rucksack and began heading towards the others.

A heavy loud bang started shaking the door behind her from it’s hinges.

_What’s happening?_

Was the war still going on all these years later? Unable to understand, she quickly followed Preston. As they climbed the old Museum of Freedom, she pondered that damned crank on the side of the rifle.

Vi emerged onto the museum’s roof and took a step back. Perched precariously near the side of the building sat an old vertibird. Other than the damage that had brought the bird down, it seemed mostly intact. Preston was climbing through the insides doors to get to the far edge of the roof where the others were already setting up firing positions. Vi might have forgotten Codsworth was even behind her were it not for the racket he was making as he squeezed through the narrow door.

“Mum, that form of transportation may not be safe for travel in its current state”, Codsworth noted as she followed Preston.

“That’s not our trump card.” Preston was beaming as Vi exited the vertibird and gestured like a game-show host, “That is our ace-in-the-hole.”

Straightening her back once out of the vertibird’s compartment, Vi was looking into the chest of an old suit of T-45 power armor. Despite the triumphant looks Preston’s entire group were now wearing, Vi was not quite convinced in it’s usefulness two hundred years after production. Her trained eye deftly assessed the minor damage.

Satisfied with the condition of the suit, Vi asked, “Where is Mama?”

“Murphy”, A speaker amplified voice echoed out of the suit as one metal hand reached up to remove the helmet. Vi looked up into the face of the suit’s pilot with curiosity. The septuagenarian features were worn down from hard living and loss, and her expression seemed to attest to it. Despite this, there was a resolve in her eyes that she matched with her voice.

“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to meet _you_. I know you’re confused and a bit scared but it’s gonna be okay. Mama’s gonna get you out of this cuz I know you got a long road ahead of ya.”

Vi stood transfixed as Mama continued. “I’ve seen you in my visions. The porcelain doll that emerged from the ice. A face frozen in time but so brittle. Cracks are there just under the surface. You’ll search for the thing you’ve lost and they’ll start to form…”

“From the ice...how…”

Marcy broke Mama’s hold on Vi with a single vitriolic word, “Really? We have bandits literally banging on our door and you’re going to go off on one of your drug addled prophecies.” Without skipping a beat, Marcy turned on Preston. “I still can’t believe you put “Grandma Junkie” in our only ticket out of this. No wonder so many died in Quincy.”

The change in Preston as Marcy spoke was apparent. He became rigid and his dark knuckles turned white as he battled to contain rage.

“Marcy, stop. We all agreed on this because Mama Murphy is the only one with power armor piloting experience.” Jun and Sturges nodded in agreement.

“She’s going to scatter the raiders with the suit and we’re going to pick them off.” Sturges spoke up with a slow drawl. “Mama knows her way around power armor. More than any of us, anyhow.”

“It may not be a perfect plan but I guarantee those raiders aren’t gonna see this coming and they’ll have a hell of a time stopping her.” Turning to Mama, Preston’s tone softened, “I guess you really want to talk to this lady, Mama, but if the raiders break through that door, we are gonna lose our chance of escape.”

“Alright kid, I guess it can wait. Just cover me and let Mama sweep that trash off our porch.”

With those words the five people in the group lined up on the edge of the roof in their positions. Risking a quick peek over the low wall, Vi could see six men down below and a few more scattered behind rubble further down the street.

Slamming her helmet back in place, Mama stepped up to the edge of the building. She Leapt into the open air, and the suit’s loudspeaker boomed out her voice, “Mama’s home!”

The weight of the armored suit crushed the first two gangers into a slippery pile of blood and bone. Mama Murphy’s minigun swung through the heads of two more as she struggled to find a footing on the gory steps. Vi marveled at the speed by which Mama recovered and lined up the massive firearm. The final two at the steps were still tripping backwards over themselves and shouting for help as the first barrage of bullets sprayed them across the pavement. As Mama began to stride out into the street, the rest of the crew opened fire. Two more heads popped like can of cranberry sauce as Vi took aim.

Through the scope a target could be seen, but the girl couldn’t have been more than fourteen and Vi hesitated. Instead of killing the girl, her shot hit the sandbags she was hiding behind. In the confusion the girl panicked and turned to run, but Mama found her. She watched through the crude scope as the girl’s body spun and jerked in a macabre dance before crumpling to the ground. The nausea came back.

Shouting could be heard in some of the surrounding buildings, but from what she could make out through the torrent of expletives, the gang was in full retreat. Mama’s minigun was still spinning as her distorted voice boomed out from below.

“Something’s not right here.” Mama took a few steps forward before signaling with her free hand towards the group. “You kids better stay up on the roof and watch my back while I look around. I don’t know what’s down here, but it don’t feel like no jet head.”

As if on cue, a thunderous racket could be heard down the street. A deafening bang followed by gunfire and screams. Despite the invincibility and bravado she showed against the gang members, Mama cautiously moved across the street to a nearby building and crouched in the doorway.

Vi attempted to look through her scope as the final burst of gunfire echoed from up the street. Legs rocked dismember from bodies as a sound stopped everyone from thinking further. The screeching bellow seemed to emanate from within her. A horrid sense of despair and terror immobilized her. She was vaguely aware of the urine as the twenty foot tall beast stalked out into the street. It stood on hind legs and was wielding massive talons as it halted. It was searching for a scent.

During the brief firefight and ensuing events, Vi had completely forgotten about Codsworth. As everyone remained crouched behind cover, too scared to breath, Codsworth was busy making a racket. His default tasks when unassigned were to do any light cleaning needed in his vicinity. To these ends, he removed a large table from one corner and dropped it in front of the rooftop door to vacuum. The scraping, metallic sound was followed by a loud clang as the table dropped into place.

Everyone froze. The people around her panicked as they realized the beast knew exactly where they were. A fire lit inside Vi as she realized she was staring down death without having a single idea what happened to her baby.

“Stop staring! Fire!” Vi yelled as she pointed at the horror. It’s stalking turned to them and began to gallop down the street on all fours. The group fired as fast as they could and Mama poured everything she had at the abomination. Chunks of flesh flew free of the creature but did little to interrupt its advance. Mama attempted to fall back into the building as it bounded towards her. Sword long talons ripped through the armor of the power armor chest as the force of the beast’s swipe ricocheted Mama off the doorframe and into the building. With the minigun still firing as she spun, the building finally succumbed to its fate and the entire front of the building sheared free. It buried the entrance entombing Mama within.

Shaking off the falling rubble like it was just talcum powder, the beast bellowed in rage. Vi and the others stood and turned to run as the creature crossed to their building in a single leap and began to climb. They wouldn’t have time to clear Codsworth’s mess from the door and there was no other way down.

With no other options, Vi turned to the only solution she could see. “Get in the Vertibird, now!”

The four remaining members hopped into the vertibird’s passenger compartment and rammed the doors shut. Preston began looking for anything that could help, Marcy screamed and railed about the injustice of this kind of death, Jun simply crawled into a back corner to wait for the inevitable, but Vi slipped into the pilot’s seat and felt around under the control panel.

“It won’t fly!” Preston yelled as he continued to shoot at the monster.

“We don’t need it to _fly!”_ The first shockwave ripped through the compartment as the creature began to claw at the door.

Awe inspiring flames washed over the vertibird’s nose, and for a moment Codsworth was the their only protector from the beast. It was somehow noble, despite the fact that he was programmed to protect her regardless of the danger. Trying not to lose focus, even with being jostled around the compartment, Vi’s fingers continued to work nimbly as the bloody and burning demon turned its wrath on Codsworth. A cry of panic escaped her as her robot was swatted off the building like a pesky fly.

“Belts! Now!”, she screamed as her foot rammed into the console twice before pushing the ignition.

“ _It’s a hell of a thing to experience”, Nate added wistfully as he bounced Shawn on his knee._

_Vi looked at him with disbelief. “You are joking, surely? How can the blades handle the stress of a hotstart?”_

“ _Honestly,” he shrugged, “they normally can’t, but when we need to get airborne fast, it’s that or nothing.”_

_Nudging closer to Nate on the couch she began to tickle Shawn’s little, soft belly. “Well,” Vi smirked, “we’ll believe it when we see it. Won’t we, Baby?”_

The horned demon huffed at the window to Vi’s side, breathing in the scent of it’s frightened prey. It’s breath was moist and rancid and it washed over her skin through the broken window. Vi gaged at she jammed the wires together again and again.

_One two three. One two three._

Standing fully erect, the monster howled before taking a final victorious swipe at the door, just as the rotors snapped to life.

Hot liquid sprayed across her face as the cracking of the beast’s spine filled the air. The rotors screamed in protest as they slammed home through flesh and bone at over one-hundred thousand rpm. The sounds of a violent and messy death was followed by a sudden violent lurch of the compartment as the vertibird freed itself from its ancient purch. The world spun and stomachs sank as the machine pulled them up only a few feet before dropping back down the side of the building.

Falling backwards, the rotors broke free and they tumbled tail-end into the ground.

 


	2. Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR  
> Bad dreams and an insight into the past and her relationship with Nate  
> Preston and Vi start to bond  
> Momma Murphey and Vi have a heart to heart about fate  
> Vi separates from the crew to continue looking for Shaun

The meeting went over time, as it always did. Each very ‘important’ individual gathered around the cold, steel, oval table. Their faces winced from the sudden changes in light that reflected from the presentation at the head of the conference. Unable to keep her focus on what the presenter was saying or the point he had failed to make, Vi switched her attention to those who sat at the table with her. A dozen or so of fellow Vault-Tec employees from various departments sat with her. Some of them were from departments of science, some budget and planning and few middle managers thrown in for good measure. All of them wore a far more diligent expression of interest, and nodded enthusiastically at the speaker.

The presentation pushed forward with a small _click._ After several more minutes of repeated droning by the presenter, Vi could feel the tiredness creep in. Eventually and inevitably her head lolled forward.

 _Click Click._ Her breath hitched just in time to wake her up from the near sleep and embarrassment.

“Shhh.” The woman hissed from across the table, the black suit she wore rose up enclosing her neck. Like a slithering hand it crept higher and wrapped around her head obscuring most of her ivory face. Nodding at Vi, the woman pushed a large book across the deep oak grains between them. Her nails were blackened and scarred with filth and grime of an unknown origin.

The book that had been offered came into focus in both texture and putrid smell and caused Vi to suddenly push her shoulder blades flat into the chair. The book’s cover was distinctly made of a mottled substance that squelched as it was released. As air escaped her lungs in fear, she struggled to breath the thick and heavy air.

 _Cliick. Click. ClicK_.

“Be still.” Stained teeth said from beneath tattered burlap as a tongue jutted out and licked slowly at the deafening disquiet in the room. Her chest heaved at the obscene gesture and a throaty moan escaped the lips.

The voice of the presenter became louder, more jarring, demanding of attention, and all voices tuned their own tongues to join into the rhythmic chant. Her eyes darted across the room frantically. They were turning to her, these half people, the creatures inside them slowly coming out. All at once they were clutching, crying, swimming arms forward reaching into the space that separated her from them.

_Click._ _**Click** _ _. Cliick._ _**cllLiCk** _ _._

The light of the presentation was blinding; blinking, and fear gripped her as she gripped the wooden armrests. Vi looked up. With trepidation she peered across the room towards the clicking. Somewhere inside she knew that horrible knowledge awaited her gaze and yet she faced it.

The vast, deep-set, bloodied eye on the projector screen blinked with the clicks of the presentation. It observed her carefully from its position high above. It watched her. It wanted her. It _knew_.

“Ahhh!” Screaming through the haze of late evening, Vi could hear the television announce it’s presence.

“ _Keep watching for more saturday night mystery horror!”_ Grabbing the remote, she hurried to shut off the television and shake all remnants of the recent dream from her mind. Waiting to hear the familiar wails of Shaun, no baby cries emerged. Wearily she dragged her hand across her eyes.

“Vi? Vi?” A worried whisper hurried from the bedroom and ran into the living room to meet her. “Are you alright?”

“No.” She whispered back. “I mean, yes. I will be.”

Nate rushed to her side and threw the a nearby blanket around her shoulders. She didn’t want to look over to him. The dream was too fresh and there was a real fear that the same horrible imagery would overlay the man she had married. While her mind cleared, Vi could feel him scan the table where the remnants of her recent working project laid scattered.

“Vi, I know you don’t want to hear this…” Nate moved away carefully, knowing how she could be jumpy after a bad dream.

“Can we not do this right now?” Her hand moved to start collecting the evidence of her overzealous work ethic.

“You need to take a break. You cut your maternity leave short, you rarely spend the weekends with us. Vault-Tec can live without you for a few months, but Shaun needs his mother.”

“You don’t understand. You’ve only been back a short time. You were at war for the good part of _ten_ years. _This_ is civilian life. If I have a chance to become the director of the engineering department, I need to pursue it with all my focus. I can’t let this chance slip.”

“Shaun isn’t the only one suffering. You can barely get a night’s sleep with these nightmares.”

“The nightmares are completely unrelated, and I’ve been informed it’s just hormones.” Moving him to the side, Vi got up and started packing the papers into her briefcase. “Once I get this position I will have more free time. I’ll be able to spend time with both of you, and we can move to that home on the beach like we always wanted.”

“Is that what you want?” Nate got up and looked down at her. His frame loomed over her, but his voice gentle.

“It’s what we discussed. Isn’t it what you want?” Feeling exhausted Vi had little patience for the conversation at this hour. _Christ,_ it was his idea to begin with. It was the whole reason she walked away from a family that was crushing her. He would become career military and then go into politics and Vi would provide the earnings and respectability required for true affluence in a family. Their son would inherit their legacy, their money, their affluence. Her family never thought Nate could make much of himself given his military lineage, but here he was proving them wrong. Helping her prove them wrong.

“No, you’re right. This is what we want.” He smiled evenly at her and for a small moment she caught a glimpse of the young man she married. Sturdy and rebellious; ready to take on whatever she asked of him. “I just worry about you sometimes, given that you’re such a shrimp, but then I remember you’re Violet Rose Sullivan-Croup and realize that nothing can stop you.”

“Gods, my name is awful.” Vi laughed as she pushed Nate playfully. “Shrimp? I’m taller than most women! You’re a freakishly gargantuan monster-giant.” She kissed him gently on the cheek and left to go to their room holding out her hand and welcoming the company.

 

* * *

 

“Nate…” Vi whispered. Her head wobbled as a deep sleep rescinded for a moment. Sturges lifted his arms up checking the straps that held her on his back. Gently he stroked her arm that dangled near his face in an attempt to calm her in case she decided to start flailing around. Her fists reached up and squeezed at the fabric of his shirt.

“I ain’t your Nate, hun.” Sturges said quietly as he put his hands on hers to keep her from strangling him. Slowly she loosened her grip and her head shifted to it’s original position. The team didn’t stop for much, but as Sturges slowed so did they. Mama Murphy was at the lead and turned when she heard Vi speak. Preston was at the rear and said nothing as he came up to Sturges’s side.

“She’s slowing us down and she’s going to get us killed. It may be all fine a good that Mama got some of the armor out of that rubble, but the longer we’re wasting time on a stranger the more likely someone or something will end our ‘lucky’ streak.” Fear and anger were woven together as Marcy spoke. “Just leave her, Preston. We can all move faster if she’s not weighing down Sturges.”

“You don’t hear me complaining, Marcy. She saved our lives ya know?” Sturges didn’t want to be too angry at Marcy, knowing full well the tragedy she and Jun had recently endured, but she wasn’t making it easy.

“Yeah, she had a part in saving us, but it was her robot that got us in that trouble to begin with.” Stopping dead in the walk, Marcy turned and set her finger pointing and Preston. “Don’t you dare take her just because you’re trying to atone for Quincy. Don’t you dare…”

“This is not up for debate, Marcy.” Preston sounded calm, but Sturges could hear the shake in his voice, the weary strain in each syllable. “I told her we’d take her if she could keep up and in my book saving our lives is keeping up. When that deathclaw showed up we all froze, _all of us_. She was the only out who _acted._ She took charge, shouting orders like a damn General. We need more people of action.”

Preston’s hands trembled at the crank of his musket. Even as he spoke his eyes were fixed down the broken road. Past Marcy, past the company and into the horizon concealed within the fog.

“You’re taking a stranger into what was supposed to be our new home; a place to be _safe_. She could wake in the night and murder us in our sleep for all you know.”

“Well, if this place is as safe as Mama says, I’ll stay close and watch her till she wakes.” Preston made no eye contact as he spoke, but he did motion for the company to continue walking. “That way I can be the first one she murders in the night.”

“Oh you can be sure, Mr Garvey, that Mum has never murdered a single person before all this mess with the bombs. I don’t see any reason she should start now!” Codsworth’s clank and whir of his motors would have been alarming to travel with, but the fog was so dense it was unlikely anyone could hear him from more than a few feet away.

“I musta heard you wrong, Codsworth, what bombs are you exactly talking about?” Sturges looked at the arms of the woman he was carrying. She didn’t look much like a ghoul or otherwise so the robot must have been broken, but there had been crazier things these past few years.

“I’ve seen her in my visions. So many times, more than I could count.” Mama said from behind the helmet of the power armor. Her voice was distorted but clearly fatigued from travelling so far. Even in power armor Mama had a hard time. “A woman out of time. I waited so long for her to show up that I started to think she wasn’t real.” Mama laughed and wheezed at the same time. “I wondered if the drugs had just been a bad trip after all, but here she is. Preston is right, good or bad, we gotta protect her now. She’s a pebble in the dark water. With her comes change; comes _our_ destinies.”

“There’s a sign…” Jun ran up ahead of everyone and looked over the exposed bridge. “Sanctuary Hills. We’re here.” He sounded confused, unconvinced. “We’re finally here.”

“It will be good to have the old homestead up and running with nice people again. Sanctuary is a peaceful place and I intend to keep it that way. I’ve kept it infestation free for over two hundred years, so any troublemakers can just stay out!” Codsworth didn’t intentionally speak to anyone in particular, but even Sturges felt that maybe he was not up to the standards of the picky robot.

 

 

The morning sun streamed through the gaps in the ceiling over their heads as she finally opened her eyes. Preston caught the reminisce of memory and events flutter across her face as she sat up. He tried to greet her with the warmest smile he could manage, but felt any greeting would fall short of what he now knew of her past, thanks to a gossiping robot.

Through the broken and dilapidated wall, her old home, worn with time and horror, could be clearly seen. Preston had meant to put a blanket up to spare her the sudden jar, but time never allowed. Codsworth puttered in and out of the front door, fussing at invisible people on the street, as if nothing ever changed.

“You brought me back.” Vi said, paralyzed at the sight of her old home.

“I’m sorry. We didn’t know it was your home before...” Preston stood and walked towards her. He decided the best course of action was to change the subject. “How are you feeling? I can’t say I had much faith in your recovery from that bash you got to the head.” He pointed at the bandage just behind her left ear.

She lifted her hand and felt around the spot, but shrugged. “I don’t really feel anything.”

“That…” Preston leaned over her next to her bed and tilted her head forward to take a look himself. “...cannot be good, but the wound looks alright. An injury like that should hurt like hell for quite some time.”

He pulled away from her slowly, gauging her expression. She looked neutral and he’d seen the same expression on himself in reflections these past several days. It was an expression beyond feeling, an expression of giving up. Processing pain was past where they were. He was still in Quincy watching Jun stroke a boy’s hair with one hand and scooping brains back in with the other before he dragged Jun from the room. Preston was still there as the shrill scream of Marcy alerted the rest of the gunners to where they were. Every moment Preston heard the words “ _It'll be okay. Daddy’s got you.”_ Until there was no space left in his mind to hear much of anything else.

Preston was still in Quincy, and Vi, well...he didn’t want to imagine where she was.

“That’s not exactly what I meant.” She whispered.

 _No, of course not._ Clearing his throat, dry hands started to shake again. Looking down, Preston gripped the buttons on his jacket in an attempt to stop the sinking feeling of failing at nearly everything he tried to do. The Deathclaw brought him back, but it was partial. He was still looking out to that horizon. Looking for that cease to the endless noise...

“I want to thank you for helping us back there. We would’ve died without your leadership.” Preston caught her eyes, sharp and locked onto his. Was it the deathclaw or was it her words that resonated so much like Colonel Hollis? Was it even possible that Mama Murphy’s prophecies were real or was he hoping for _any_ kind of good or right to come out of Quincy?

“I honestly don’t remember what I did. It was instinct,” She quieted as she saw his expression turn from gratitude to something darker. “But you’re welcome. I’m glad I could help you.”

Preston half-smiled at her attempt to make him feel validated. “I’ll be leaving to a nearby settlement to pick up some supplies soon. We need transmitters and there’s good scrap to trade…”

“Alone?” Indignantly she frowned at him.

“Well yes…”

“No. Absolutely not.” Standing suddenly, she momentarily made a sound of discomfort. “Look, I don’t know much of anything about this utterly _horrible_ world, but I do know it’s too dangerous to travel alone unless there is simply no choice.” Glancing at the house across the street, Vi sucked in breath before she continued. “I need to get out of here anyway. Ready and rested or not.”

“Again with the orders.” He tilted his head trying to understand how she could be so commanding to someone she only just met. “Mama won’t let you out of her sight and her power armor is half busted.” He shook his head. He didn't want company, he didn’t want help or excuses. He also didn’t want to admit what he really wanted...

“Then I’ll need to just fix it.” She said directly. Preston was stunned silent before he started to laugh to his own surprise.

“Fix it?” Shaking his head, Preston continued. “Look, if Mama leaves with you then Sturges will leave with her and that will leave Jun and Marcy to defend themselves…”

“And Codsworth.” She answered triumphantly. “That finicky robot has kept this settlement clear of any hostilities for 210 years. I think he can manage Marcy and Jun until more settlers arrive.”

“More...” Preston echoed as he turned to look at the empty street himself.

“That was the idea wasn’t it?” Vi started to walk out of the house and headed into the open air and sun. “I hope them all the best. This place should...rebuild.” She stopped short.

Kicking the rubble from the workshop where Mama’s armor was set up, Vi unzipped the front of her vault suit and rolled up her sleeves.

Preston for the life of him could not contain the smile on his face and hoped she could not see the flush of sudden exuberance under his dark skin. “Alright, alright. You’ve proven your point. You’re a great hardass who just survived an injury and can start working on Power Armor right away.”

When she didn’t respond, he leaned against the walls of the workshop feeling slightly envious of her determination. She was putting her pain on a shelf, even if only in the moment. He wondered if it worked better for her then it had for him. “Can this at least wait until you’ve eaten and done some rehydrating? I think Sturges might die of embarassment if you fix it before him.”

“He better pick out a coffin then. My husband spent the better part his military career in one of these. I know the schematics inside and out.”

 

* * *

 

“Minutemen? It’s good to hear there is something worth fighting for these days.” The disgust of her new surroundings started to emerge through her language. While Vi would later admit her gratitude at finding people such as Preston, Mama Murphy, and Sturges so quickly out of the vault, in this moment in time there was only bitterness.

Vi was well versed in avoiding the truth. A trait learned through her family, but this truth was too apparently to be forgotten. Society crumbled into a vague mockery of what it had been. Everything Vi had been was dependant on that very society. She had shaped herself and her life, inside and out, to excell in a world that no longer existed. She was unsure if it was curse or boon that one thing still remained: hope. A hope that there was a baby boy alive and well in a cruel world. A baby that needed her, and she was going to find him. It was the one and only thought she would allow herself to think otherwise the truth of what she had done, what she was, would pour forth and corrupt a world already fully sullied.

“Best not to think that too loudly. You’re not ready to hear it. Not yet, but soon. Just focus on getting to Diamond City.” Mama Murphy walked next to Vi on the road to Tenpines Bluff wearing the new ultra sleek version of her power armor. Working on Mama’s armor became a testament piece at how far and long Vi could force herself to avoid a painful subject. Regardless, her knowledge combined with Sturge’s experience had created something to be proud of.

“Carla will be the best bet to get you there. She used to come to Quincey and is always heading out to Diamond City. Probably scheduled to stop by Tenpines in the next couple days at most. She’s always on the road.” Sturges kept his keen eyes on the armor and continued to look for any unseen kinks or problems. He was a real craftsman.

Ultimately, the full suit of outdated power armor was too much of a drain on the measly supply of cores they had at the ready. It was badly damaged from the collapsed building. Over a meal of stale cram, Vi and Sturges discussed options on how to keep Mama mobile, somewhat safe, but reduce capacity output. In the end, they made up plans for a set of power “overalls” stripping much of the frame that held the heavier armor plates and minimizing it to load bearing joints. The arms were completely stripped of armor but a single weight bearing rod curved around Mama’s arm just enough to cuff her wrists and give extra support for carrying guns. The whole thing fit like a glove and most people would probably never know Mama was wearing power armor if it wasn’t for her being six and a half feet tall. Her legs were bad, and they could not skimp on those supports. So they kept the lower half mostly in tact. Sturges had been wearing a huge grin since he first saw Mama enter the suit.

“I need to talk to Vi alone for a bit, Sturges hun.” Mama Murphy said looking down on her companion. Sturges did have a way of acting like the protector of Mama even though it was obvious the woman was far more capable in combat.

“Yeah, alright, Mama.” Sturges jogged to join Preston at the lead.

“It’s good we got some time to talk, kid. I’ve seen you in visions so loud and clear for so long - it’s hard to remember that we’re not old friends. I half expect the Great Old Ones to start talking about you.” Mama laughed as she lowered her voice. Vi suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t believe in any of that stuff.” Vi was no newcomer to the occult. Her family had large ties to the Church of Starry Wisdom, but mostly kept up appearances for business reasons as none of them had any faith in the doctrine. It seemed all the rich and influential in Boston (and much of Massachusetts) explained their continued fortune on archaic rhetoric. In Vi’s opinion they foolishly worshipped these ‘Gods’ based on ‘secret knowledge’ that one of many a God had bestowed on them. In the end, this knowledge accounted for nothing more than a large library filled with meaningless books that no one was allowed to read. “It was nonsense before the war, I can’t imagine it’s changed much since.”

Vi shivered as she recalled the dream she had just a day before the bombs fell. It was the same scene that greeted her outside of the house on that fateful morning. A dream that became real, a “vision” but Vi knew it was only the rampant talk of nuclear war that spawned such a dream, not prophesy and certainly not ancient elder gods whose names she never bothered to learn.

“You don’t have to believe. It believes in you, and once it’s seen you it’s only a matter of time before you see it back.” Mama gasped for a moment before turning to Vi. “Let’s not dwell there. That future is full of terrible unknowns and even I’m afraid to look. You’re a doll, kid, and can break just as easy. The smell of paint and the glow of the sun, don’t turn them away. You must follow your path, but you won’t get far alone.”

“My path? Mama, no. You and I are not bound to some destiny no matter what you think.”

“Well that’s true. Every vision can be avoided if you’re brave enough to try, but while I’m not bound to a destiny I am bound to you.” Smiling as the nearby settlement rose over the hill, Mama took in a deep hearty breath of fresh air. “You’ve already set me on my path, which I’m thankful for. Look at me and look at this _armor_.” Mama said amazed as she held up a large sniper rifle as if it were nothing more than a small stick. “Travelling again, fighting again. Murphy the Madwoman back in the thick.”

Smiling warmly, but feeling quite detached inside, Vi adjusted the military helmet they gave her. “You did that. Not me. I’m just some random woman who showed up in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“No, you were in the _right_ place. Preston’s knows it too. Without you we’d all have died. You set our destinies on a ninety degree turn just by showing up. You’re our catalyst, Violet, and you’re going to set the whole commonwealth ablaze just by being here; be it good or bad.”

“But no pressure...”

As they approached the precipice of the hillside, Vi looked over at the outline of northern Boston on the horizon. Even from this distance the silhouette was clearly altered. She knew every stretch of countryside by heart and the reality of the change hit her hard. A short painful gasp crushed at her throat as she clutched the vault suit.

Her home was nothing more than a ruins. The structures that formerly had purpose, conveyed the hubris and foolishness of men as they sat lifeless and exposed to the elements. All that had been: lost, but not the vault. The vaults still stood in working order. Those same vaults were ready. _Ready and waiting_ even as the bombs fell and so little a forewarning was had. Vault tec was primed and their guards and employees all lined up to usher in the residents, clearly anticipating the bombs even as they closed the giant rolling door.

Genie constantly chastised her employment with Vault-tec, but Vi merely laughed at the idea. Had Vault-tec known? Had they really been the thing that started all of this destruction or did they know the world was to end and told no one?

“ _You think everything is a conspiracy.” Vi dismissed the concerns of her friend._

“ _Because, in my experience, it always is.” Genie, who was known for her ardent bravery, responded with fear in her eyes, and Vi paused._

As Vi stirred from the memory, Mama Murphy came to her side and put a firm hand on her back. “Oh, kid. This wasn’t you. I know it’s hard to understand now, but someday you’ll see. They woulda done this to the world with or without Vault-tec.”

Coming to her senses, Vi blinked and looked up at Mama suddenly, “Wait how did you know? And my name?” but she was interrupted by screaming coming from the settlement only a few yards off.

“Minutemen! We didn’t actually think you’d show up! Oh, thank god!”

Vi and Mama quickly caught up to Preston and Sturges to listen to the tale of the settlers who had recently been raided. They told tales of murder and torture as tears streamed down faces, then they said that one of people had been taken as ransom. Vi’s eyes scanned the small settlement of shacks and crops, but there were absolutely no walls, no guard posts, no sturdy structures, no defences of any kind. How much knowledge had been lost that people could not build soundly to protect themselves from the elements and enemies?

“500 caps? We just don’t have the money to pay that.” Preston said with an anxiety that Vi caught immediately. His thought process and reasoning falling away at facing another inevitable loss.

“Then you should go rescue them.” Leaning forward, Vi gently place her hand over Preston’s trembling one. Their eyes made contact and there they stood for many moments, completely comfortable to look into each other.

“It’s alright,” She continued “You’ll have Mama at your back and Sturges can stay here and help me work up plans to get these people some defences.”

“I…” Preston started to speak but then stopped himself, maybe he even hoped Vi would interrupt him. “I’m not sure I can…”

“Preston,” Vi let a small slow smile form to reassure her new friend. “It’s your _destiny_.” she said in her best Mama Murphy voice.

Stiffening his stance, Preston followed that with a sudden profound laughter, Preston nodded at Vi and turned to Mama. “Alright, Mama, no time for rest. Pack up anything you need, we’re going on a rescue.”

 


	3. Lost and Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR  
> Vi meets piper  
> Piper is awesome  
> Vi leaves Piper behind because Vi is a dirty asshole  
> Vi recuses Nick in a very Vi fashion.

_Vi,_

_I’ll say it again because I saw you dismiss me the first time. No matter what you need, come find me and I will help. Yes, you saved the lot of us with your quick thinking, but this isn’t about paying a debt. It’s about doing what’s right. You’re a good woman and I wish you luck with whatever it is you feel like you gotta do "alone." Just remember, you’re not alone._

_Safe travels, general._

_~Preston._

The old stadium loomed over her as other imposing buildings crumbled all around. Streets on the way to the old stadium had been cleared and were guarded by turrets and droves of guards. Everything about it’s great walls and bright lights should have conveyed safety and reassurance, but a shiver ran down Vi’s spine. Walking up to the rounded walls brought a bizarre feeling of deja vu. Having only visited a couple of times, and never having a reason to enter the large structure, it was still someplace that stood out in her memories. As the huge heavy metal door rose open, the group of travellers and traders put their weapons to their sides.

“Don’t go hot into Diamond City.” Carla elbowed Vi to put the musket in her back holster. A few extra caps from preston had bought that at least. Shaking her head as as Vi barely complied, Carla motioned to go inside. Slowly the group inched forward and into the opening.

“Diamond City welcomes you! Carla so good to see you, and you brought company!” The heavyset older man greeted Carla. His wide hands sliding down her arms in a repellant manner. “What a beautiful woman, too! I’d love to hear your story!” He moved towards Vi as if he intended to engage in the same groping interaction, but Vi stepped aside with the practiced ease of a fencer.

“I’m not sure why.” Vi said flatly looking out from under lowered eyebrows. “Please don’t try to touch me again.”

“Just being friendly there Miss. The Mayor needs to make _all_ visitors feel welcome.”

“Mrs.” She said plainly with no other offering of name of reference.

“Well well well,” A mockingly-sly female voice emerged from around a corner. She had snuck into the gates when they had been opened and no one was looking. “Looks like Carla’s new help believes your shit as much as I do McDonough. I better draw a picture of her, or she might be the next person to ‘disappear’ in Diamond City.”

“Devious, rabble rousing, slanderer! You’re lucky we have guests or I would have you thrown out!” McDonough’s eyes bulged at the sight of her and his words grew erratic and agitated. “I’ll give you a pass for now, Piper, but one more wrong move and you’ll be on the streets with that little sister of yours. Good luck surviving without _my_ protection.”

“Threatening children is disgusting and cowardly.” Vi said through gritted teeth. The reaction was immediate, uncontrolled and she regretted the words almost as they left her mouth. Vi’s face turned red and her hands balled into fists. She had been gipping the holster of her gun without realizing it. Images of Shaun flashed across her throbbing temples. The cries of hundreds of children trapped in vaults…

“Whoa. It’s like you read my mind there, _you_ _BLUEtiful woman you,”_ she mocked the mayor’s voice but added her own joke. “but I’m pretty used to the Mayor and his kind of _help_.” This young woman, Piper, with the red coat and perfect black hair, flicked her finger out towards him as a threat.

“I’m an important man, I don’t have time for this…” He said as he started to walk away. “feel free to stop by my office anytime, Carla, and you too miss.” He glared at Vi’s body before moving on. Immediately, Vi felt far too exposed in her tight vault suit. It felt red-hot pushed against her skin.

“So,” Piper folder her hands across her chest and nodded at Vi. “Who’s you’re friend here, Carla. I think I’ve got my next story.”

“She’s not with me, Piper. Just along for the ride.” Carla said reaching in her pocket for some cigarettes. “Alright people let’s start packaging the items up for distribution.” The small group of traders began to unpack their bags and boxes from the brahmin.

One of the traders she had traveled with, a man in his 30’s, came over and took several bags of supplies from Vi’s sore shoulders. “Thanks.” She groaned as the weight was lifted.

“No, no, thank _you_.” He said with a nod and a cocked smile. Acknowledging him awkwardly, Vi turned her face towards the stairs leading to Diamond City proper, hoping Piper would leave her alone.

“Where you headed?” Piper, moved directly in Vi’s path and studied her very closely. Under the pressure of such a critical glare, Vi turned her head away again. This little reaction made Piper’s smile go from ear to ear. “Listen you look like you don’t exactly have a place to stay while you’re here. Why don’t you come back to my place? You’ll get a warm meal, and a dry bed, and I’ll only ask you a few questions in exchange.”

“Thank you but I can’t…”

“You won’t get another offer like that from anyone else. Take help where you can get it, lady.” Carla handed Vi a handful of caps. Her ‘cut’ from not running away when confronted with a band of raiders. Even the memory of the raider boiled the rage in Vi’s chest.

Three times over five days raiders had been responsible for an abhorrent attack on innocent people. Why did the people of this world not band together and wipe out their filth?

“Come on. Unlike McDonough, I won’t bite, but I may or may not be a pervert.” Piper reached out, her hand close enough that her intention of sliding it under Vi’s arm was clear, but she stopped just short. “Maybe you even have a name to go with all that well-placed distrust?”

Vi followed the gesture with her eyes and then scanned up the arm and into the gaze of this woman. Looking for any sign of intention, Vi set her own thoughts aside to assess. The red coat matched the small red bags around each young golden eye. Her head sagged to the side like a curious child, but the corners of her mouth wrinkled into the satirical truth of an adult. She reminded Vi of the women she had known at Vault-Tec; intelligent, curious, far too trusting, and a spark. That clear drive and desire for life. It was something Vi had not seen since Nate peered at her from across the Vault. It was the very embodiment of hope summed into an expression in the eyes, and Vi didn’t realize how much she missed it until this moment.

“My name is Vi.” She said as she stretched her arm out toward Piper. With one devious grin, the reporter had her by the arm and was leading her through the streets of Diamond City.

 

* * *

 

Piper had to admit that she had an ulterior motive for almost everything she did, but really who didn’t? As long as those motives were used to the benefit of people, and wasn’t hurting anyone (that didn’t deserve it) then so what? Piper was a realist, she told herself, all while making guilty expressions at the vault dweller she had slung on her arm. So what if she was going to ask for her story in return for a hot meal and a bed? Nothing was free in the commonwealth and least of all in Diamond City. So what if the woman looked like a spooked radstag at each fresh turn of Diamond cities streets? So what of it if questions about her past might bring up painful memories?

_So what??_

Piper huffed in defeat as she entered her little house. Nat, her far too grown-up little sister, quickly caught the scent of the new person and started being the person Piper didn’t want to have to be. The onslaught of questions sped at Vi, but djr said nothing to the little sister demanding answers. Vi remained calm and nodded carefully

“Seems to me that no one comes to Diamond City without a purpose. Everyone wants something, but what could a vault dweller want so bad to leave one?”

That was when Piper saw the woman’s jaw clench. She blinked away what looked like tears of anger and spoke to Nat in a quiet voice. “Yes, you’re right. I’m looking for someone.”

_Shit._ There is was, the truth Piper had been after without even asking anything herself. She’d seen grief before plenty of times.

“Alright you little monster,” Piper pushed Nat out the door the house, “Head outside and leave our guest alone while I make dinner. Oh, and let me know if you see security heading this way.”

As she knew she would, Piper couldn’t stop talking while making dinner. Vi was quiet most of the time. Mainly when Vi spoke she asked questions that seemed very strange like, ‘how do you get food?’ or ‘how do you deal with waste?’ Happy to answer any question, Piper smiled as she realized she was the one being interviewed.

After dinner Vi continued to patiently listen as she walked around the little room. Fresh paint covered makeshift canvases, but Vi stood in the midst of it staring at each painting in turn, whether it was half finished or not.

“Sorry for the mess. I have tea if you want it.” Piper nervously chuckled as she brought out the tea for them to drink. Pushing aside the scattered papers of stories that never went everywhere she set the tray down.

Turning on a dime, Vi swept across the room and sat next to Piper. There was a distinct effortlessness to the way she moved. It was unlike how others walked or moved, with more heaviness in their limbs. Piper had to assume it was some sort of training that one got in a vault.

“You painted all these?” Vi asked as she raised the tea cup and smelled the contents with caution.

“Yep. There’s just something missing when you tell a story without pictures.” Piper chugged the tea quickly and sighed at the warmth. “You can tell someone that there is an entire sea of glowing radiation until you are red in the face, but if they can’t imagine it you’ve wasted your time. However, if you can give them something they can _see_ ; minds can open. Open their eyes and open their ears.” Leaning back on the couch Piper looked at her most recent work. It depicted raiders on the streets firing on a caravan of settlers; Diamond City in the background safe, alone, looming, and not interfering in anyway.

“Although,” Piper shrugged. “Most people don’t want to see the truth, no matter how it’s served up.”

“Then you’re talent is wasted on fools.” Vi said suddenly as if it was so obvious, the most normal and obvious thing in the world. “These paintings...it’s terrifying the clarity you bring to this world with art. It’s terrifying, but it’s also beautiful.”

Piper wasn't sure the last time she had blushed _so fucking hard_. Was it when her first kiss with Tammy Desoto was discovered and everyone in school made fun of her for liking a girl? It was a defining moment for her to be sure. Piper vowed to never let anything be ‘secretive’ again. Secrets meant that someone would inevitably be hurt in the end. It was better to get it all out in the open at once, and it appeared the woman who sat next to her had the same idea.

This thought sparked Piper into bravery and she finally worked the nerve to ask what she wanted from the start.

“What happened to you in the vault, Blue?”

Vi frowned and turned away. The clench in her jaw and fingers into fists returned although smaller and more controlled than the last time.

“Guess I haven’t hit my quota of insensitive things to say in a while. I’m sorry for upsetting you, but you need to know that I have connections. I’ve met lots of people and have heard lots of things. Maybe I can help, but I need the truth first.”

“I hate this damn vault suit. It reminds me…” Vi looked up at Piper and then stopped herself short. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sure plenty of people would be thankful to have warm and sturdy clothing.”

Piper wondered why the woman continued to get so close to making a connection, to being honest, but then pulled away as if it was the only recourse.

“You’re right they would.” Piper said and leaned forward and started to yell. “Hey, Nat, can you bring down the suitcase from my latest trip?”

“Ugh, fine.” Nat replied like any young girl with more important things to do, like write letters to her crush, and defeat the system.

“I recently made a trip over to this place called Backstreet Apparel because I heard of an underground drug trade happening, possibly polluting the chems coming into the city. Anyway, they had lots of old world clothes in there. I’m willing to trade whatever you want for the vault suit. Hell, with the money we can make selling the suit, I bet we can even buy you a warm coat, maybe even some light armor.”

Nat practically threw the suitcase down the stairs and it’s contents spilled out across the floor in front of Vi. Piper watched as Vi slowly lifted a dusty rose dress from the mess. She held it in her hands in a trance.

“This season’s bouffant dress combines a sweetheart neckline and tier skirt with an extra wide waist. The tuled lace overlay accentuates femininity, while the bold hemline lets the world know who’s in charge.”

“You sound just like those old posters…”

“I was going to buy this dress for the engineering department cookout. I never got the chance.” Vi whispered at the dress.

“Wait, what? This dress is...” Piper could scarcely say it outloud it seemed so impossible. If the woman had been a ghoul it would be believable, but she was untouched. ‘Vault perfect’ as people called the lack of sunburns, leathered hands, or scars. This woman had a story that might have been unique to all others she’s heard. To be hundreds of years untouched but still find everything gone. So, Vi’s unspoken loss was more than just a person, it was her entire life.

“I needed to look exceptional if I was going to apply for the Directorship and I always loved flowers. Genie told me once that flowers suited me because they were such a sharp contrast to my personality.” Vi’s face was blank but a small laugh escaped her lips. “Look at it, ripped and ruined. Most the tulle shredded, all of the finer details lost.”

“Well, it’s still the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, and... I think it suits you perfect.” Piper said suddenly jutting her jaw forward in a brave fashion.

“Piper, you don’t have to be so kind.” Vi said as she lowered the dress.

“Like hell I don’t! You’re a woman out of time, Blue! Not only does this dress suit you, I bet we can outfit it with some great gear.” Piper started rummaging through her own dresser nearby. “Let’s see, you’ll need some stockings or leggings at least under it. You’ve got good boots already, that’ll help.”

“Piper,” Vi said to the woman but tried not to interrupt.

“A warm jacket, hmmm, that will be some caps, and some armor. The sell of the suit can help with that. You already have a pretty good helmet…”

“Piper.”

“Hmmm?” Piper said as she pulled out a large scarf and gloves.

“Thank you,” getting up Vi walked towards her while picking up the scattered clothes on the floor. “For this and for not pushing about my past. I’m just not ready to talk about it.”

“I get it, Blue. Really I do. I can see the real you behind the stoicism.” Piper made a mean face and began to mimic Vi’s voice rather poorly, “Don’t you try to touch me Mr. Mayor or I’ll cut your perverted little eyes out!”

The corners of Vi’s mouth jutted upward. “I don’t sound like that.”

“Yeah well, I hope that when you’re ready to talk, you remember that I’m here. Ready to say the most inappropriate things at the most inappropriate times, free of charge.” Watching Vi put some of the clothing back into the suitcase, Piper realized that Vi had confessed to looking for someone. It was now also possible that ‘someone’ was prewar as well. It was a tall order and there was only one thing that could help this woman that Piper knew of. Unfortunately, he was in loads of danger. “Which brings me to my next topic…”

“That doesn’t sound suspicious at all.”

 

* * *

 

Vi knew it was cruel to leave like she did. Piper had only been kind, had only helped, and had possibly been the best damn thing that had happened to Vi in days, but still she left. Once she had a name, a _very_ distinct description of a fedora and trenchcoat, a purpose, she knew she had to carry on alone, despite her own rule. It wasn’t that she didn’t want the help, didn’t want Piper. It was quite the opposite.

Each time Vi tried to sleep the little snorts of Nat came crashing across her mommy ears. Piper wanted to go with to find this detective Valentine, but Vi couldn’t let her. What if Piper was seriously injured while out with Vi? Hell, what if she died? Nat, practically still a baby, but nearly a young woman as well, she deserved to have a family. One that was alive and cared for her, not one traipsing around the world with a woman she barely knew.

Vi knew she was acting the part of a disgusting autocrat for making this kind of decision and not letting Piper have a say, but if there was one thing she was willing to live with, it was this. So, in the early hours before everyone woke, Vi snuck out of the house and out of Diamond City.

Park street station was easy enough to find. Boston’s streets were her home. It was harder to navigate than before, but the major landmarks were still there. Weeds and vines clung to this abandoned world trying to refresh it with their grasp. The smell of old garbage was equally strong to the smell of morning dew as the sunrise lifted over the cracking pavement.

Crouching into the shadow of a building, Vi smiled as the hem of the dusty skirt brushed through the dirt. Piper was right, the dress did suit her even if it was a little snug, but looking at the state of healthy food and rations in this world, she knew it would fit soon enough. This unpurchased dress was born of both worlds, both new and old, and if that didn’t describe Vi at the moment, nothing would.

Reaching deep into the old repurposed mail bag, Vi pulled out a small snack cake. Her pip boy hummed angrily when she bit into it, but there was nothing to be done. Radiation was everywhere. Animals were leaking and mutilated like the images of radiation victims from anchorage, and she wondered how the plants were able to thrive despite everything that had happened. Trees seemed bigger, plants more feral, the landscape entirely wild much like it’s inhabitants that Vi tried so hard to avoid.

Turning into the Park Street Station with haste, she was able to discover the vault rather quickly, the only problem was there were an unknown number of men between her and where she needed to be. Piper made it clear that these gangsters were not friendly, so Vi didn’t even attempt to approach. Everyone in this strange new world shot first and it wasn’t worth the risk. If given the time, she would teach herself to shoot with precision instead of constantly wasting bullets, but the idea seemed so far off and small compared to finding her baby that it was quickly forgotten.

Hunching down near the vault doors she stared at the panel and wondered what to do next. Sandwiched between strangers that all had larger guns and more experience in this world, she looked at the familiar technology of her pip-boy. The mechanical doors of the vault loomed with their size and immortality even after the destruction of the world, and she suddenly had a very horrible thought.

_What would Vault-Tec do?_

 

* * *

 

“Don’t give me that crap, Valentine, you know nothing, you got nothing.” Dino said through the overseer’s window where Nick was being held captive. It really wasn't going to be hard to convince this meathead to run scared over the idea of his boss wanting him dead. All Nick needed was a few minutes unguarded and he could make a break for it...

“What’s that?” Dino looked up and raised his gun to the ceiling as the lights went out in the vault. “Wha’d you do, Valentine? I’ll come in there and shoot you myself if you don’t knock it off.”

“I’m not doing anything, Einstein. Maybe you should go check on your boss and see if he’s in trouble.” The white noise machines and fans of the Vault whirred down, slower and slower until there was no sound at all. The sound of no sound in a vault was distinctly unnerving to Dino as he started muttering to himself about the things in the echos. Nick on the other hand wondered what was going on. It wasn’t like vaults to suddenly up and fail after having worked perfectly for hundreds of years.

**Ding.** A bell rang across the speakers in the Vault. “ _This is your automated Vault-Tec assistant.”_ Said the overly polite voice in a very calm, very reassuring way.

“ _Foreign biological pathogen detected, Vault purge initiated.”_ Another ding rang and the emergency lights kicked on. Swirling spotlights of reds and orange flooded the vault and Nick pulled a cigarette from his pocket and started to smoke it.

“Well, hear that, Dino? Better get out while you can” Being mostly mechanical himself, Nick could care less about a biological pathogen, but was amused at the idea of Dino running with fear.

“This is your doing…” Dino was interrupted by another loud, ominous _**Ding.**_

“ _All employees and residents are advised to evacuate the vault before decontamination procedures begin.”_ The deep female voice was undeniably dripping with sweetness in her tone as if she was describing a pleasant afternoon. “ _The minimum safe distance is estimated at one mile as temperatures in the vault may exceed 4,000 degrees fahrenheit. Please, watch your step!”_

“Well shit.” Nick said no longer confident in his synth self being an easy out to the situation.

“Haha. See ya Valentine, enjoy the heat you son-of-a-bitch.” Dino waved before the voice emerged on the speakers again.

“ _Vault 114 will automatically seal itself in; FOUR; minutes.”_

_**Ding** _

“Oh fuck.” Yelling, Dino ran for the vault’s exit, knowing it was just about four minutes away at top speed.

Nick was quick to move to the controls of the Overseer’s door he was locked behind. He needed to hack through the terminal as quickly as possible if he was going to make that time frame. Luckily, he knew a back way into the vault one that was closer and probably not ‘official Vault-Tec’ lockdown material. It was likely Vault-Tec made the backdoor for just such an occasion, ensuring those that needed to escape had ease of access.

“ _We hope your stay with Vault-Tec has been a pleasant one,”_ The female voice said and Nick got the strange idea that he was hearing double. “ _Please make sure to completed a comment card on your way out. Here at Vault-Tec, we are committed to making sure every vault feels just like home.”_

The doors of the overseer’s office whooshed open, but Nick had not completed the sequence to hack the door. Not in the mood to tempt fate Nick started to run for the opening.

_**Ding** _

“ _Vault 114 will automatically seal itself in; THREE; minutes,”_

Looking up at Nick from her pip-boy was the face of a woman who slowly raised her finger to her lips in a shushing motion. She wasn’t really looking at him, but at her surroundings making sure no one else was around.

“ _And; THIRTY TWO; seconds.”_ After speaking in the bizarrely fake voice, the woman reached out and grabbed his hand, tugging Nick quickly behind her.

It was her. The entire Vault-Tec emergency was a fabrication by this stranger who rescued him for no reason that he knew of. Feeling the tug of her firm hand, he let her lead him (out the back way, go figure.) Nick was completely mesmerized by her audacious plan, her peach hair pinned into an old world fashion, and a dress like those pre-war high society women wore to parties. His yellow eyes flashed to take a snapshot of the image in front of him. This was not something to forget.

Amusement rose in him as laughter filled the vault, and the echo bounced from the all too quiet walls.

“Shhh!” She said sternly, but he could hear the cadence of amusement behind it.

The chase elated them both and smiles stretched wide as they ran together out of the back door of the vault. Twisting and turning through the sticky subway tunnels, the glint of light surfaced across their faces and that was when she suddenly stopped and propped her back against a wall. Her face was rosy with exhilaration and her controlled breath exhaled from the small circular shape her stained lips formed.

Taking the time to admire flawless skin, Nick realized the last time he’d seen something like her  was memories from before the war. Finally he spoke up, “Love the irony of the reverse damsel in distress scenario.”

“That was impossibly fun…” Her head turned to look at him, _really_ look at him, and that’s when her smile dropped and all that running induced color drained from her face. Staggering sideways she nearly tripped on the rubble before coming to her senses.

_She didn’t know._ No one must have told her he was a synth, and Nick’s own smile disappeared at the look on her features. Just like that, a beautiful moment was lost.

_Hell,_ Nick thought, _maybe she even rescued the wrong person. Now that would be funny._

“You’re Nick Valentine, right?” She said with trepidation.

“Guilt as charged, doll.” He stepped back, finding another cigarette to light. The last one had been lost to their underground jog. “You want to share who you are and why my heroine risked life and limb to rescue this old detective?”

“Doll…” She whispered as she stared at him. He observed her with caution as she straightened her back, lifting her head and chin as she looked him square in the eyes. “I apologize, I didn’t know you’re not _totally_ human.” Her words were cautious. He started to wonder if she even knew what a synth was. “I’ve never met anyone...like you.”

“I would hope not. I like to think of myself as one of a kind.” As he joked he saw her eyes soften and her shoulders relaxed. There was something not quite right about this woman. Something Nick couldn’t recall, something familiar, but a lifetime away…

“My name is Vi,” She stepped closer to him and held out her hand as if meaning to formally greet him. Nick found himself unable to refuse as he took the compelling gesture that bore a single golden band. “and I’ve come to you because Piper Wright is confident that _you_ can help me.”

As their hands met, she didn’t so much as shake but squeeze tightly and pull herself in closer through the connection. “So tell me Mr. Valentine, how good are you at finding what’s been lost?”

 


	4. Forever's a Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR  
> Vi is honest about her past  
> Nick and Piper have a Nick and Piper adventure  
> EDWARD DEEGAN HAPPENS  
> Piper and Vi have to make a hard choice

Hot breath poured through her trembling hands as they dropped from her face. It was only when she said their names, “Nate, Shaun…” that Vi had stopped recounting the story as if it had happened to someone else.

Nick leaned against his desk as Piper perched on the seat nearby, ready to throw her arms around Vi at a moment’s notice. In this brief amount of time the two women knew each other, Piper got her heart twisted up in compassion. It was a rule that Piper would do her best for people, any people really, but there was something else here. Something about Vi.

Even in the conversations Nick shared with Vi on their way back to Diamond City, he could see how easily she captivated attention. She effortlessly stirred his own fire from the inside out. She was giving a pep-talk to someone who didn’t even need it, but he listened with intensity.

“ _You woke up out here? Alone?” Vi stopped in her tracks as she was clearing comparing the two stories of suddenly being forced into this apocalypse. “Surviving out on your own...it’s incredible. I could never do it.”_

“ _Well, I’m not exactly made of flesh and blood, you know.”_

“ _You’re more human, more alive than most people I’ve seen out here. Look what you’ve had to endure and you’re not out there hurting people like so many raiders…You’re still...you, still helping people and if you can help I would be in your debt forever.”_

_She offered him every single cap and ounce of food in her possession, and Nick examined her even closer to see if he could get any hint of lying, any pretense of falsehood from her story. Of course he’d never take her money, even if he was wanted to. She had saved his life, or semblance of it, and fair was fair._

“ _I’m the one in debt, doll. You’ll never need to pay me a thing.”_

“ _I don’t know what to say.” Vi stared into his eyes, something most people avoided doing, and water built there. Yet, with one smooth clench of the jaw she composed herself. “This new world has so many terrors. There is so much evil, and yet there are people like you and I don’t know what to think...”_

It sounded chilling, this revelation. She referred to him as a human and a person, and yet acknowledged the monsters as a reality. Still, she’d not seen the worst of it, this new world. He remembered how it had torn at him the first time. His mind studied the possibilities of how she would react when that eventuality happened. Would she be ruthless or kind? Would he even want to know, or would it kill him to miss it?

In his office she looked ordinary, like every other sad story that passed his stoop, but she was different. She was like him and would probably never fit into this world either.

“It all sounds so unremarkable now, compared to everything else...” Acute distress knotted up Vi’s eyebrows as she finished the story of vault 111.  Her hand grabbed onto her face in what looked like a sudden and powerful ache “Ugh. My head.”

“C’mon, blue, you’re gonna bunker down on the detective’s bed tonight.” Piper held Vi by the shoulders tightly and was sturdy as she ushered her into the other room.

“Gee thanks for asking, Piper.”

“Hush, you.” Piper glared at him for even making the joke. “She’s going to think you’re serious and not let us help. _She’s one of those_.” Piper fake whispered.

“I’m right here…” Vi said flatly still holding her face in her hands.

“Also,” Piper ignored Vi and continued to talk to Nick. “I’m going to give her some of that med-x you got in the back.”

“What’re you telling me for? Not like I live here.” Nick watched the women head into _his_ quarters to raid _his_ belongings. Sighing he closed his eyes for a moment. Unintelligible amounts of data appeared in his mind. He could search it thoroughly, but he didn’t need to. As each unneeded file flew past, the data he wanted emerged from the dark. Wouldn’t it be a hell of a thing if his hunch turned out to be the truth. The same man who murdered a husband and kidnapped a kid was right here is Diamond City all along? This same Mercenary only fleeing the city a few months ago? There was no such thing as a coincidence.

“Let’s take a walk.” Piper whispered as she turned off most of the lights in Nick’s office. Nick obliged and opened the door for the reporter.

Neon lights glowed softly as the pair stepped out into the cool night air. Piper fumbled for a smoke as Nick locked the door behind him. They hadn’t gone ten yards from the door before a passing DCS patrolman offered up, “Better watch her Nick, she’s trouble”.

“Yeah,” Piper turned on her heels with a snarl, “well at least I bother to look into cases about children snatched from their beds, _Steve_!”

Nick simply placed a restraining hand on her chest to remind her that Steve was not the task at hand.

“Yeah, I know”, she admitted making an obvious effort to not give Steve a real grilling. He smiled a bit at her frustration, but even more at the fact she was standing down. It wasn’t in her nature to back down from a fight and Nick knew it, but that wasn’t the fight she needed to be concerned about tonight.

“You know what I’m thinking, right Nick?” she whispered as they rounded a corner.

“Yeah, Piper, I think we’re on the same page on this one.” Nick whispered back softly.

“He fits the description too well. It’s gotta be…”

Nick cut her off with a quick gesture. “Yeah, he’s probably the guy for the job, but we’ll see if it’s too late.”

Piper’s brow furrowed for only a second at his sudden change in conversion before she took his hint. Diamond City has a too many ears in this part of town; ears that knew secrets; ears that can be bought.

As they mounted the long walkway up to their destination, Nick ran through all the people that would love to know what Piper and he were up to currently. They were the official troublemakers of Diamond City and the two working together would really draw attention. Sure, Nick and Piper could be seen together in his office or hers from time to time, but out for a stroll at night? They were far more known for engaging in loud rows over cases and stories that overlapped, not mistaken for a couple gazing into each other’s eyes.

Nick could see the house up ahead as they reached the top level of the walkway. Normally he would do this alone, but not when Piper was so close by. She was like a bloodhound. Once she gets the scent of a hidden truth, it’s all she could think of. He could acknowledge her bravery and determination, but her direct and confrontational approach didn’t sync with his way of doing things. Sure they were on the same team, but their approaches were just too divergent. Nick was fine just finding the victim, but Piper wanted an additional prize, the truth.  That prize often cost more than Nick was willing to pay.

Piper paused as they got to the door of Kellogg’s old house. She pulled a couple pins from her hair and knelt at the lock. “Well, if it’s not this .44 caliber toting, bald, scarred merc with a kid, Nick, then I’m out of ideas.”

“Yeah, I know.” Nick didn't like that non-feeling he got in his gut these days. The one that said something bad was on the horizon but he couldn’t quite understand. It wasn’t a feeling he ever got as a human so it was hard to pinpoint. Maybe a bad processor, or maybe he was slipping and missing the obvious. “But that doesn't have to mean what you’re thinking, and _no we should not_ tell our new... _friend_.”

The door lock clicked open, and Piper stood for a moment before entering. She got that look.  That wide-eyed, lip snarling look that she always got before chewing him out.  As he followed her in, the mundaneness of the apartment was jarring, almost painful. Only someone with no idea of who Kellogg was would think this cookie-cutter crap was legitimate.  

“Something’s wrong here.” His eyes began their scan of the surroundings to check for traps or cameras.

“Yeah, the fact that now we gotta rummage through this apartment until we find his real stash.” Piper started rooting through everything rather haphazardly.

“It’s gotta be weird ya know? I mean think about.” She coughed as some dust kicked up from a pile of books she dumped on the floor. “It’s gotta seem like what?...a week?, since the world was all “rainbows and flowers” for her, but how long has it really been?”

“Well, unless I’ve got my dates wrong…”

Piper quickly cut him off, “Nah, I mean since they took the kid. You know. How long was she really frozen the second time?” As she drew a switchblade and began slicing away at a mattress, she offered up, “And how the hell did she really get unfrozen anyway, Nicky? I mean it lasted for two hundred plus years right? And we’re supposed to believe it just happened to conk out… and not kill her? I’m not a freezing people scientist, but that seems like some long odds, ya know?”

“Yeah,” Nick continued to scan the room until he saw something strange from one corner of the small structure, “but she doesn't need to think about something like right now. She’s got to focus on what’s in front of her.”

“Seriously?”, she tossed the now shredded mattress to the floor, “She does have a _right_ to be prepared. You know that right?” Throwing her arms wide in frustration, Piper knocked her knife hand against the wall blade first. Each of them watched as she withdrew her hand and left the knife hanging there. As she failed to suppress her smile, she pointed at the embedded blade, “See? This is what you make me do, Nick. I’m so frustrated with you that I killed a wall.” Suddenly, her eyes went wide in mock horror, “Oh my god, Nick! What if it had a family?”

Nick did his best to appear wistful and somber, “Out there some chair rail, fence, or wainscoting is crying itself warped tonight before bed.”

Piper snorted, “Any luck on that side?”

“Nope.” Nick kicked the floor peddle that he had noticed when he first entered the room. “When you got scanners like mine you don’t need luck, just a tune-up.”

The wall behind him hissed as hidden pneumatics slid it open. Piper simply gave Nick her best “crazy eyes” as she retrieved her blade and drew it across her neck at him. Joining him on the other side of the room she leaned in, “So, can we tell her now?”

“Not yet”, he replied in a mirrored whisper.  “This man was a _real_ professional mercenary.” he admitted as he turned to face the hidden room. An old piece of NCR body armor sat propped in a corner. Nick picked it up and began extracting all the data he could as he continued. “He wasn’t some idiot who says they’re a merc and winds up dead in a ditch three days later. What the hell is he doing stealing kids from sleeping vault dwellers?” He propped it back in the corner before grabbing one of the .44 bullets that lay scattered here and there, “It doesn’t seem the kind of mission that requires that kind of fire power...”

“Or what was the real mission?” Piper added as she inspected the old cigar butt and beer cans. “He got awfully comfy here for a while, then...”, she gestured to the room with a sweep of her arm, “he just left. Was the mission over? Was he spooked?” Piper seemed lost in thought for a moment as she tapped her foot on the floor.

Nick began to catalog the weapons in the room as Piper seemed to be really into her tapping. She tapped with her right foot a bit, then began tapping with her left. He couldn’t focus on what he was doing as she began tapping in circles with her foot.

Suddenly, her eyes began darting as she seemed to be intensely searching for something. Nick knew that self-satisfied smile as her back straightened and she beamed it his way.

“And the most important question of all, did Kellogg really think he could hide this!” Piper grabbed an old ashtray that had been sitting on a nearby table and twisted it. The floor tile she had been tapping on just moments before recessed and slid away to reveal a dark shaft with a ladder.

“Didn’t scan that shit did ya, Nick?”

“Credit where credits due, Piper, that was a hell of a find.”

“Well this looks...safe.” Green light flared from Nick’s eyes as he switched over to night vision and looked down into the secret tunnel. He would have told Piper, but she was already climbing down into the darkness. Nick pulled a lantern from a nearby table and lit it. “Wouldn’t by chance need a light in that pitch black hole would you Piper?”

“Psht, nah. Just letting my nose for a good story lead me.” Nick heard what must had been her shin hitting something painfully solid. “Ah fucking…”, she caught herself and continued through clinched teeth, “but if you have one I guess you should bring it.”

At the base of the ladder, there were a few empty crates that Piper had found and a tunnel that led deeper but little else.

“So now we can tell Vi right”, Piper whispered as she accepted the lamp.

“Tell her what? Hey Vi, we found a creepy old tunnel under the guy’s place that we think had your kid. You should come check it out with us even though it may take a while and have nothing to do with your case at all.”

“Damn, Nick, vicious.”

Nick could she how taken back she was by his comments, “I’m sorry kid, I’ve just seen too many people get there hopes up for nothing.” Her body seemed to relax a bit at his apology.

“Yeah, I’m just saying that this seems pretty promising and if we find something, she would have wanted to be here for it”, and with that, Piper turned back down the tunnel and led the way.

As Nick spent most what turned out to be a short walk trying to get his night vision working with the interference from the bobbing lantern Piper carried. If his basic awareness hadn’t stopped him, he was sure that he would have run right into Piper mid restart.

“That is not in the brochures”, Piper’s voice defined awe as Nick witness the expansive cave that opened up before them. Next to them sat another pile of broken and unidentifiable crates. Bending down to inspect each closely, he couldn’t even find trace elements beyond those native to the cave.

“Over here!” Piper called as she waved the lantern.

“I’m old and grumpy, not old and blind”, Nick reminded her as he approached. Terrifyingly, Piper didn’t even retort, she only indicted some strange markings on the wall near an archway.

“Those who dare enter here will be damned for all time”, Piper spoke solemnly as Nick failed to comprehend how she could read it or even what language it was.

Nick examined the patterns closely, but still could translate it even with Piper having read it.

“What language is it kid? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Piper just shrugged, “How the hell should I know. It’s just got that “If you do; you’re damned” kinda vibe to it, right?”

Nick simply made a emitted a sighing sound as he began to examine the cut stones that made up the archway. Piper, as usual, pushed on through the archway to investigate the other side. After a moment more of examining the architecture and failing to find a viable lead, Nick followed her into the next room.

“End of the line.” Piper’s voice couldn’t hide her fear as she stood at the top of a water filled tunnel. Piper had the expression of someone who expected the very depths of hell to come crawling out of the water and strangle her before shots were fired. Thinking back to his days as a human, Nick couldn’t recall ever being afraid of water like most people were these days. Even folks who worked with the water supply, they had that same fear in their eyes. Sure the water was different from 200 years ago, but filth, radiation, and a few mirelurks didn’t seem enough to cause this kind of reaction. Whatever made people so edgy around deep pools, he was immune. Looking at the always brave a verbose Piper grow anxious and quiet, Nick was actually glad to be a synth. Nick’s vision could penetrate deep enough that he could see the tunnel turn off to the left, but that was under twenty feet of water by that point.

“It’s just water, Piper.” Nick offered as he turned to check the dry areas of the small room.

“I don’t think it really is, Nick”, he could feel her hesitation to turn her back on the flooded tunnel.

There was nothing here either. Just another dead end. “Still want to tell her about this little trip, Piper?”

Still visibly shaken by the pool, Piper didn’t reply and both began a silent climb back up to Kellogg’s house.

Piper set the lamp down where Nick had taken it before finally speaking.  It was as if that tunnel had just been too much for her, but he couldn’t see why. Would he have felt it too?

“What’s the point of having those tunnels, which must lead back up to the surface somewhere…”, Nick could see the muscles in Piper’s jaw tighten, “...unless you are smuggling people in and out of Diamond City.”

“And who would want to do something like that?” Nick asked already knowing the answer.

“The Institute…” Piper was done with jokes for the night.

“You still think we should tell her about the kid?” Nick flipped over a few boxes of ammo one more time looking for any sign of where they had been sent through. Even a merchant could give away the location of the missing Kellogg.

Grabbing the door to head out Piper offered, “Better start eating your hat, Nick, cause I’m about to say you’re right.”

“Well ain’t it a day for miracles”, he softly chuckled as he followed out the door.

 

* * *

 

Edward stood at the entrance of the traders common in Bunker Hill. He knew there was really only one place in the commonwealth everyone was bound to pass through. It wasn’t that pretentious dangling prick, Diamond City, and it wasn’t the back end of a brahmin, Goodneighbor. It was Bunker Hill that all the clean living good people were bound to pass at once time or another. Bunker Hill really had everything. Good supplies, great defenses, and above all else, a healthy amount of foot traffic day after day. It was perfect for his purposes, and he could keep an eye out for the elusive Emogene while he was at it.

Looking out for the welfare and interest of his long-term employers, Edward searched for more manpower daily. Even though Jack was his boss and brilliant in terms of anything scientific, he was pretty flaky when it came to people in general. He didn’t understand that there were droves of raiders mounting, fighting Edward’s crew day after day any better than he understood caps were the new form of currency. These days people stuffed mattresses with old paper currency, and Edward was amused at the irony of it.

It was day three of scouting new recruits in Bunker Hill when he spotted the overly well-known reporter from Diamond City come into town with a woman on her arm. Oh yes, everyone knew Piper Wright, even on the edges of the commonwealth because there wasn’t a single place she was afraid to search. Where she hadn’t made trouble, she sent out her newspapers to, in the hopes to gain ground and bring the plights of all people to a larger stage than Diamond City. It was all the more reason Edward kept his distance and remained low-key when Piper was around. Yeah, it was great that she was trying to do good, but his work was not the kind that needed to be advertised.

As he watched the two women gather at the open atrium to settle for a night of drinks and dinner, a strange sensation hit him each time he saw the other woman. Something about her nagged at him, something he _should_ know, but _dammit all where did he recognize her from?_ His attention was focused so solely on getting new recruits, which had been quite a success before Piper showed up, that he was invariably tired from all the people fishing. Not much like a ghoul to get tired easily, but he had gone without sleep for five days now and he figured the only reason he couldn’t figure out how he knew this woman was because of this lack of rest. First a hot meal, then he could think straight.

Sitting at the bar, trying to stay inconspicuous to Piper, there were plenty of people who filled the cafe-slash-trader’s hall as the clocks turned to dinner time. Two hours, one hot meal, and two drinks later, the noise and merriment started to fade with the light.

“Alright, looks like my contact is about ready to talk.” Piper was not quiet in the twilight, and Edward wondered if her contact had wanted a clandestine meeting because they were not getting one now.

“You going to be alright without me for a little while, Vi?”

“I have a bottle of wine and a shotgun. I think I can manage.” Said the deep sultry voice of the other woman. Edward was in the middle of his third shot, when he froze. His eyes widened as he turned. Surely he heard wrong, surely this was all wrong. Slowly Edward’s eyes focused, slowly his vision took in the one person who should not have been there at all.

How had he missed it? A face he’d seen a thousand times, but 200 years ago. Somewhere, along with all the other useless knowledge of a past life, she had been lost and sidelined in his memories. Yet, once realized her strong features, perfected posture, and pinned hair were unmistakeable even know. Even under all the filth, armor, and torn clothing there was never mistaking Violet Sullivan for anything other than her damned ideal self.

* * *

 

The small city built around the half destroyed Bunker Hill monument had turned out to be the most surprising of little towns. From the outside it didn’t look like much, but from within it was filled with safe, small, and _clean_ accommodations. Faces that looked the smallest bit more at ease, and children playing in the narrow streetways as if the world was not crumbling around them. Warm light poured out from the large open air atrium, which was the ruins of the monument’s adjacent building.

Piper insisted they eat in the atrium as small crowds started to flood in at the dinner hours. The noise was filled with dinnerware clanking, people talking, and general amusement. Even as the night ticked onward, Vi sensed the contentment on those around her. Piper got up to meet her contact leaving Vi alone with her own thoughts in peace. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted.

Orange light beamed across the sky and flooded through the glass of her wine bottle. It left strange patterns across the table and her cheap metal arm armor. It was cool these nights and it was clear fall was coming. Vi never even thought to ask what season it was. Did they even have seasons anymore?

_~It seems to me I've heard that song before. It's from an old familiar score…~_

The song on the radio was too familiar, and mixed with the surrounding ambiance brought images of dance halls and town gatherings. Oh, how she had loved to dance. Dance with Nate, dance with friends, she would dance with anyone really. Somewhere these few weeks in this wasteland the entire concept of dancing had been forgotten and she fought the sting at her eyes.

“Vi?” The deep gravelly voice said and Vi had to look over her shoulder and tilt her head back just a bit to get a look at who said her name.

Vi froze as this massive man, with hulking muscles, came into her sights. No, he wasn’t a man, well not on the outside anyway. Fighting for breath, Vi scanned his disfigured and pitted skin. Jaundiced eyes tried to meet hers, but her eyes darted away from the contact in uneasy discomfort and shame of her own thoughts.

Seeing a synth for the first time had been startling, but robots were common before the war. It stood to reason that humanity would make machines more and more like themselves until it resembled them in personality and form. The person calling her by name was still a man, but a grotesque aberration of one. Piper told her about ghouls, individuals that suffered radiation poisoning either during or after the great war. It was a ghastly disfigurement in trade for unknown longevity, but Vi had been unprepared for it.

There was no comparison she could turn to in memory. All she remembered about victims of fire was that they burned normally, like flesh, but this man had not done so. He had burned like paper. As if the top layers of skin had just fallen away, ash blown to the radiated winds leaving the scarred dermis open to the elements. Would the damage occur so suddenly or so slowly to be such a marked difference?

Vi tried to calm herself with curiosity, but it was still terrifying to behold. The horror of the past, staring her in the face with large blue eyes.

“It’s been longer than church on sunday, but I don’t think I could forget Violet Sullivan.” A crack of a smile edged up his cheek and he took a step closer. Vi stopped breathing.

“Do you remember? Is your mind all there? It’s me, Edward Deegan...”

_~I know each word because I've heard that song before. The lyrics said "Forever more"~_

“...Eddie?” Her voice shook and the sting in her eyes doubled down. She couldn’t move from her chair.

“Wow. I haven’t been called that in a long time…”

 _Edward came to the house to watch a movie and have a fun evening catching up with Nate and Vi. He brought a case of beer and Vi laughed at the idea of drinking so much, but to her surprise they did just that. Singing baby Shaun to sleep, Edward winked at Vi. He was a wonderful friend, and Vi complained that they saw him far too little these days._  

Kneeling down in front of bandaged knees, Edward reached out for her but stopped short. “Are...are you alright? You’re crying.”

Not having noticed, Vi gazed down at the tumultuous shake in her limbs and the cold wet scarf as it absorbed her tears. Her face ached and its expression was uncontrollable.

“Hey, you!” A scream emerged from across the atrium as Piper caught sight of the scene. “What do you think you’re doing to my friend?!”

A troubled expression crossed his face when he saw Piper, and Edward began getting up. Springing from her seat Vi wrapped her arms around his neck, her toes dragging behind her.

“Eddie!” She cried, as Edward wrapped his arms around her in return. She let go as the strength of his arms warmed her; she wept both joyous and miserable. Something remained; something tangible and real from her old life, and it rested in her arms.

“Oh, well...” Piper said as she took her hand from her pistol’s grip. “There ya go I guess.”

_~Forever more's a memory. Please have them play it again and I'll remember just when I heard that lovely song before.~_

 

* * *

 

“Blue, I’m so sorry, but we need to go.” Piper waited as long as she could before breaking the bad news. Vi was still as uncontained as Piper had ever seen her, barely able to restrain her tears. “The lead is time sensitive. If we don’t show up before the informant moves on we could be looking at another month tracking this monster down. We can’t trust that Nick will get there in time.”

Vi nodded, “Eddie...there’s so much to talk about, but I have to...”

“You haven’t changed, Vi. Always onto the next great obstacle to conquer.” The ghoul brushed a tear from her face. “Maybe a bit soggier than I remember.”

Vi laughed, actually fucking laughed, and Piper observed astonished. Was she finally witnessing Vi as she was before the war? In peace with herself and the world?

“Here,” Edward handed her his backpack. “This is all the caps and gear I can spare at the moment, and you look like you could use it.”

Releasing the bag, Edward pulled her into a large hug. “God, it’s good to see a friendly face. Don’t die before I can see it again.”

“Same to you, Deegan.” Vi whispered as she reluctantly backed away, gulping down the pained expression in her eyes and letting Piper lead her out of town and into the city outskirts.

Piper felt horrible dragging Vi away from a friend that should have been dead, but Shaun came first. Vi had made that quite clear, even warningly so. If ever there was a choice the prewar woman would always pick her son. The wisest thing to do was to never, ever stand in the way of making that journey to the child.

Piper looked down at her modified 10mm. The parts were crudely machined and poorly assembled, yet the entire gun was better than it had been before the modifications. Vi wasn’t a fine craftsman, but she understood the mechanics behind it, and she could meticulously plan and make things come together. Of course, the gun would have been built to perfection had Vi asked for help from someone with more skilled hands, but that wasn’t her. Or so Piper thought before now.

Thinking she knew so much, Piper realized how little she knew about the woman at her side. Before this moment Piper has assumed Vi to be just a mother and wife who lost her family, but Edward changed that perception. ‘ _Always onto the next great obstacle to conquer.’_ What did that mean if not the commitment Vi exuded? What had she done before the war? Who was she? Someone important? Did people fear or respect her?

The puzzle suddenly became more complex to Piper, which made it even more irresistible. An inventory formed: _An engineer, but not a craftsman. Not afraid to take charge, but uninterested in leadership. A strong, insatiable desire for control that leaves so little to chance that she does not even ask for help. A defining, unchanging trait: resolve._  

It seemed a well rounded idea of a person, yet there was something important missing. Where was the empathy, the warmth, and the love? Before Edward, Vi had never once cried, not even when she described the murder of her husband. She always kept herself in control and the reasons or purpose for this was the real mystery.

“It must be strange, ya know,” Piper broke the silence between the women. “to see someone you thought was long gone, so suddenly.”

Vi paused. Her steps slowed as she examined Piper as if they had only just met for the first time. “No, not really.” She said quietly before returning to her regular pace.

“Oh.” Piper said with a sarcastic tone. “So you’re alright, seeing your friend didn’t cause you to cry for ten minutes straight?”

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Vi answered uncomfortably.

“Dammit, blue, I’m not making fun.” Sighing, Piper took Vi’s hand. “You know I’ve been saying for weeks; you can talk to me about anything. The truth comes out one way or another, and keeping all that locked away only makes it worse when it does. Seeing a friend should be wonderful, especially for you.”

“Edward is not the problem.” Vi looked downward, the edges of her mouth turned into a frown. “Edward is a familiar, habitual feeling. It’s everything else.”

“I don’t understand.”

Vi stopped, put her hand on Piper’s shoulder and pointed down the street from where they were walking. Piper could see a half demolished building spilling across upturned cars making the street impassable.

“That building,” Vi continued, “it used to be a local gym.”

“Alright...”

Vi’s nose screwed up and she looked away. “It’s hard to explain.”

“Ok, well, let’s start with the gym. Tell me about it and maybe that will help.”

“It was the ‘bad’ part of town.” Staring down the road, Vi half smiled as she recounted the story. “That’s what my family told me, and why I would sneak over to this part of town looking for ‘adventure’. The people in the gym there never asked me where I was from, never made me feel like I was an outsider, and they surely knew I was. I learned more about self-defence in that smoky, unairconditioned gym than eight years of fencing.”

“Oh, I expected more from the story.” Piper weakly smiled still unable to grasp what Vi meant.

“That’s just the thing, Piper. Thousands of small stories wrapped into an epic of everything that’s gone. It always feels strange - no, that’s not right. It feels _terrible_ every moment I’m awake. My world, those people, they’re not two hundred years gone. They are thirty five days gone.” Vi’s hand dropped from Piper’s shoulder as she looked up. “Even the sky is not my sky. Up there are volumes of deep clouds skimming across lighter, lower clouds as though the sun has vanished. It’s alien. Every moment I’m out here it’s like a pressure under my chest that never eases, but then I see Edward and...it’s relief.”

“But relief is good, right?”

“It felt good. For a moment it felt like everything was alright, but seconds later I realized all over again…” The cloudy eyes of Vi shined over with renewed tears. “It’s _not alright_ , not at all.”

“Oh, Vi, I am so sorry.” Piper squeezed Vi’s hand with the sudden urge to hug the woman she considered a friend, but stopped herself.

“Don’t be sorry, Piper. You...” She grew silent, much like the Vi Piper had become accustomed to, she didn't show any interest in saying more at the moment. Only lately when Piper asked, Vi was forthcoming with her thoughts. It made Piper smile knowing that deep down there was a trust that was not shared with anyone else.

Piper decided not to pry anymore into the topic. There was only so much heart-to-heart a person could stand at one time, and she figured Vi had her fair share for the day. The two women walked past the street and continued on their way quietly. They hushed as the ambient sounds diminished leaving stark silence in the streets.

Piper froze and her eye twitched. It was that uncomfortable feeling she got around things like dark water. Then she heard it.

“Help.” A voice spoke unevenly from down the nearby alley.

In an instant Vi had turned to the sound, but Piper grabbed her to still her movements.

“Hurt.” The voice called out as if waiting for an answer. “Hurt.”

Trying to break free from Piper’s grip, Vi looked as though she was going to call back to the voices. She wanted to help them, she was falling for the trap. _She doesn't know._

“Vi, no!” Whispering as quietly as she could, Piper wrapped her hands around Vi’s mouth and started dragging her into a nearby building. Quickly finding a stairway up, Piper held tightly to Vi’s hand as they ascended the stairs.

“Hurt. Help. Hurt.”

“Shouldn’t we help?” Vi whispered cautiously.

“No, they don’t need help.” Crouching over to an window, Piper peeked out to the street below.

“They?”

“Yeah, they travel in packs. Way more than we can handle on our own.” Slowly the street below started to fill with the shambling staggering and limping forms. Piper could hear Vi’s breathing quicken as her own heart started thumping rapidly.

“I only see two people?”

“Yeah, there’s the rub. We can only _see_ two.” Piper scanned the street and was able to vaguely make out perhaps another half dozen crawling and hiding along the shadows. There were surely others nearby, or better hidden.

“What - What’s wrong with them?” Vi asked.

“No one really knows. Ghouls that lost their humanity.” Sizing up the amount of enemies below, Piper leaned back against the wall and started to check her gun for the ready. “We should be safe here until they pass. They don’t normally _try_ to find victims, but they do kill when given the chance.”

“For what purpose? Are they cannibals?” Getting a bit overly nervous about the oncoming threat, Vi started talking long, slow breaths.

“Nah. I mean, they eat corpses sure, but that’s not the point of the killing.” Piper shrugged as the siren sounds of ‘help’ and ‘please’ passed by the window. “All I know is that they attack everything that isn’t them. I don’t know if it’s hate or instinct or what. They’re the excuse people in Diamond City use to hate ghouls.”

“What, why? Edward was nothing like these...people? Are other ghouls like this?”

“No, it’s just ferals that look like that. Regular ghouls still eat and sleep, even if it’s not as much as a human. Diamond City is bigoted, don’t get me wrong I love the city, but they are asshats. They think that only ghouls ‘turn,’ but I’ve seen humans turn sideways just as bad, and more frequently, than ghouls do. Ferals haven't gone sideways, I mean look at them. There’s no humanity left.” Piper watched as Vi’s eyes shifted from horror to pity. “Something gutted them, but left them living.”

“It’s so cruel.”

“Yeah, sure did scare me to death as a kid. We would hear them shambling past the town borders calling out things like ‘please,’ ‘hungry,’ ‘hurt’ it still freaks me out.”

“Piper, what are they doing? Why are they lying down?”

“Oh no. They’re going dormant.” Piper started to feel that horrible twitch in her eye again as she assessed the implications. “They could be like that for days until someone spooks them. We can’t sneak by either because there is only one way out of this building, through them. Their hearing sucks, but their eyesight is amazing at night. We would have to wait until morning.”

“But the contact, we can’t wait until morning!” Vi looked anxious and upset as her mind began to churn the same idea.

“That’s the whole problem, isn’t it.” Piper said defeated.

Staring at her companion, Piper watched the transformation from fear, directly into resolve. Vi’s eyes darted up and down the street. She checked her Pip-boy several times, and little unsounded words formed on her lips as she counted something only known to her.

“How fast can they run?” Vi asked.

“Really fast at first, but they slow down after a few yards. They have a lot of stamina though.”

Nodding her head, Vi pulled her fingers to her toes, stretching her legs. “How quickly can they get up?”

“Not too fast, about half as fast as anyone else?”

“How far can you run without getting winded?” Lightly tapping her Pip-boy again, Vi directed the flashlight beam into her shirt to not bring attention to them. She looked like she was trying to set the light to the highest setting.

“I -  I don’t know, a block quickly? Not very. I’m a city girl, remember?” Piper screwed up her nose. She knew Vi was a good runner, fast, and with stamina to spare. She also knew Vi would do _anything_ to get to that informant in time, but could that possibly mean using herself as bait so Piper could get away? “Please tell me you are not planning to do what I think you are.”

“Sorry, I’m not in the habit of lying to my friends.”

“So _now_ we’re friends, huh? Well friends don’t let friends run off with a pack of ferals chasing them…”

“I’m not going to argue with you, Piper. I know what needs to be done.” She interrupted, and Piper said no more. Not only was Vi a commanding presence when she needed to be, but she also rarely changed her mind. “You wait here until I’ve led them all off out of sight. If there are any stragglers you can finish them off.”

“Blue…”

“Listen, Piper, you’re the only one who knows the contact and can get this information. You can do this.”

Vi’s overwhelming confidence cast all doubts aside, and no matter how Piper feared the consequences she would do what was asked.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the mistakes in this chapter. I don't have a second pair of eyes and MANY things slip.


	5. Lead On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR  
> PRESTON IS BACK!!! and he meets Piper  
> Mama knows where Kellogg is.

Running up and behind an unfamiliar woman, Preston shouldered half the load of water she was carrying from the only safe water source into the newly secured, largest yet, settlement. It boasted two general barracks, several small shacks for the families, and an actual wall, made up of everything they could find that was sturdy enough to withstand gunfire.  The farm was still open to attack, but that was the next thing on a very short list.

Maybe it was too soon to be proud of the work they were doing, but people were coming around to the idea faster than he thought. It would be different this time. He fully understood the problems and downfall of the last **time** and wasn’t going to make the same mistake. He would structure it to self-sustain, to never be corrupt, and most importantly, to keep it away from being a standing army. These people didn’t need mercenaries, they needed to know how to fight mercenaries and care for themselves. Once that was done, they could take the luxury of caring for their neighbors, too.

“Thanks.” She smiled. The red in her cheeks flushed as she looked away from him, embarrassed.

For the last month Preston had encountered every emotion imaginable from people when he said he was with the minutemen. Distrust and disbelief were the two most common. These reactions were followed closely by either hope or disgust, but this was the first time he had seen warmth. On the face of a beautiful woman was a fire that he couldn't quite understand. An emotion that wasn’t like the others. She cared about what he was doing and she cared that he cared, but there was something else. It was then that he realized he didn’t know her name.

As they reached the water depository, and with a combined effort, they poured the water into the top. Taking a few moments to catch their breath from the heavy labor, they wiped the dirt and mud from their hands.

“Are you Preston Garvey?” Her breath was heavy. The rosey glow more on her cheeks than ever, and maybe now it was Preston who was blushing at how she smiled when his name left her mouth. “The one all these people keep talking about?”

“Yes, ma’am…” He barely responded before she interrupted him

“Well, I mean _obviously,_ with the hat and all.” She wiggled her fingers restlessly at him, and then adjusted her silken black hair from her face. “Impressive gig you got here, Garvey. It’s great to see what someone can do when they give a damn, that is, if you really do give a damn.”

He just nodded and didn’t say anything about her implied disrespect. Her fierce eyes narrowed on his response as she inspected every inch of him.

“Well, I certainly hope so. The people of the commonwealth have been through enough without a megalomaniac restarting a failed organization.” She said in a confident tone, but maybe with just a hint of insecurity underneath. Despite himself, Preston chuckled at her fucks-to-give attitude.

“Not from around here then?” He smiled and tried to be understanding. Everyone had their own hangups, their own problems. Maybe she was reaching out for help, so he reached back. “Sticking around or…?”

“Oh, no I’m just passing through. Honestly, I’ve been here longer than I should, but I’m waiting for a friend.” The woman looked away and her brows came together in a sort of fearful anger. “She should have been here by now. Figured, while I’m here, to go ahead and chip in. They’ve been feeding me, after all.”

The street they were standing on was a bustle of people washing their faces and hands from the reserve. A nearby dinner bell rang and even more people started to gather outside the largest of the buildings in the settlement.

“Do you have a name to go with all that dinner?” Finally finding an opening, Preston didn’t want to pry, but did want to help.

“Yes! Sorry, Piper.” Her brown eyes looked past him and into the settlement hall. “Do you think it’s ok for someone to be 15 hours late? Because I don’t. I’m afraid I can’t make that dinner.”

“Listen,” He knew full well what overly anxious people were to do if left to their own devices. Gently he held out his hand. “Let’s start with getting something to eat, then we can talk about a search party for your friend, alright?”

 

* * *

 

The line was long to the community meal, but she had good company with Preston. Piper tried to pretend that she didn’t like him. Like she wasn’t _instantly_ impressed with what he’d been doing. She even went as far as to feign her belief that he was a good man. Honestly, after meeting him, who would think otherwise, but she was a professional. She had to be fair and objective about everything, and everyone, the same, but _oh man,_ was she ever going to enjoy rubbing it into Diamond City’s nose.

The ‘dirty commonwealth nobody’ cleaning up settlements. Making a stable place for people to live and work. If he kept up this pace, Preston had a fair chance of matching Diamond City for safety and number in only a year or so. The idea made her so gleeful she might burst. Not having to choose between bigotry and safety? Joy of fucking joys.

“I’m surprised at how many people want to volunteer. I think I have a crew of ten who come and go with me now.” Preston kept talking, trying to make her feel comfortable, trying to get her divulge her secrets. She was going to tell him anyway, but really enjoyed how he tried to help in the meantime. “But even if we didn’t have anyone else it would be me, Mama, and Sturges teaching people how to best do for themselves.”

“Hey, Piper, did ya lose somethin’?” from directly over her shoulder a low, sarcastic voice whispered into her ear.

Piper shrieked as she turned on her heels. Jaw hung open as she stared at Nick Valentine.

“Christ Nick! What in the seven gates are you doing here?”

“I was heading to the same contact that you got wind of.”

Shaking her head, realizing how futile the last couple days had been, Piper felt dejected. “I lost Vi, Nicky. I don’t know where she is.”

“Good thing I put a tracking device on dames I don’t want to lose.”

“You mean you found her?”

“Yeah, safe and sound. She needed to stop into the lavatory. Should be here any minute.”

“Oh, thank the stars. Wait,” Piper started looking into her coat and lifted her shoes to look at them. “Do I have a tracking device?”

“No, I don’t track you.” Nick replied.

Thinking about his answer for a moment, Piper poked his chest. “Well why not?”

“Piper…” He sighed.

“Why don’t you track me, _Nick?”_

“First, it was a joke I don’t have any tracking devices -  although it’s not a bad idea now that I think about it. _Second_ , when when you do anything _silently_ I’ll stop knowing where you are all the time.”

“General!”  Preston shouted suddenly with a huge grin on his face. The sound of Preston yelling was so jarring that Piper jumped back onto Nick’s chest. Looking around Piper realized that it was not just her that gawked at Preston, but so did half the town who were waiting in line.

“General? The hell is that about? I didn’t know the minutemen had a new General.” She said angrily at the idea that anything could make her _jump_.

“Turns out, our friend gets around.” Nick responded carefully moving Piper off of his shoes and then pointing down the road as a figure met Preston in the street.

Striding into focus like she was not _16 fucking hour late,_ was Vi and she looked not the tiniest bit worse for wear. In fact, as Vi met with Preston on the street they shook hands and patted each other’s opposite arm. Too joyful to be angry, Piper joined the reunion.

“Blue! I figured you must have died.” Piper hugged Vi without waiting for an answer. Separating herself from her friend, she turned her head to Preston who was now grinning from ear to ear at seeing both women so happy. “Or maybe I should say General?”

“You should not.” Vi raised her index finger at Preston like she was not happy with his choice of words. “It’s good to see you’ve met, Preston, but his term of endearment is misplaced.”

“Hey, I’ve got a great idea.” Preston spoke and gathered the group together. “Let’s grab some food and take it back to Mama’s cabin. We can catch up and I know Sturges would just love to talk to you about his new plans.”

“Of course.” Vi said wearily as she leaned on Piper. “but socializing must take second place. I am simply ravenous from all that extensive running.”

“No one talks like you, Vi.” Piper said hugging her friend again in more than a little relief.

 

* * *

 

The poorly drawn blueprints were laid out before her. Mostly they were sound and right, but every now and again Vi noticed something that was out of place. Sturges said he didn’t mind if she made corrections to the pile, but then would grunt with some level of dissatisfaction each time a mark was made.

“No, no. I’m not upset, your teaching me new things.” He would say, but she didn’t believe him. Still she kept marking away. This is what she did before the war and if there was a way to use it for something _decent_ , she would not be denied.

Vi was halfway through a bottle of some scrounged old bourbon that was really quite good. She lifted her head and stretched her neck out while she glanced across the room of the tiny cabin. On the far side (but only a few feet away) sat Piper who was still asking Mama Murphy a huge list of questions. Mama was full of stories about her past and was pleased tell them.

Preston, who was next to Sturges, argued with him on the placement of the new cattle sheds. Nick was silently smoking at her side.

Her companions all appeared contented in this moment. It was everything in Vi to maintain her own composure. Each time something would prick her at her eye, she took another drink. She wasn’t sure if the bourbon was helping, but she needed to find a distraction from the bad news. Piper’s contact was useless and they were no closer to finding Kellogg than they were a month ago.

As Vi turned to pour herself her fourth glass of bourbon, Nick spoke softly to her.

“We’ll find another lead.” He leaned into her, the smell of smoke reminding her of fond places in her past.

“So much time has been wasted already. It’s unlikely he even has Shaun, by the time we find Kellogg, Shaun could be 600 miles away.”

“We’ll find your kid, and at the least find where he’s been taken. It’s only been a month, I’ve tracked harder targets for far longer.”

“Perhaps, but likely not.” She inhaled and took a large swig of her drink. “I’m going to get revenge, Nick.” Vi shivered at her own words.

Nick frowned at her and leaned forward, making his words quieter. “He needs to be brought to justice. The end of your gun might be justice for you, but we have evidence of his human trafficking. What about all the other families he’s destroyed?” Nick put his metal hand on her wrist and stopped her from taking another drink. “Look, I’m all for people getting what they deserve, but you need to think about what you’re denying everyone else.”

“I’ll be happy to inform them, one by one, that the monster that took their loved one was removed from this earth.” Slowly she pulled her arm from him, but continued to look him square in the eye.

“Alright, I get it.” Nick nodded as he returned to his cigarette. “Piper ain’t gonna like it, but I’m with you. No matter what you decide, all the way, doll.”

Vi hesitated. For some reason she thought it would be harder to convince him or that he would argue with her about what justice really meant. When he said he would be on her side, no matter what, it took her mind a moment to reset before responding. “Thank you, Nick. I’ll consider your words, but I’m afraid I will disappoint you in the end.”

“I highly doubt it.” Nick smiled at her this time, and Vi sent a small confused smile back to him. When she looked back at the room Mama Murphy was staring at her with a grim expression. Her clouded eyes were glazed over heavily.

“I knew it would come to revenge before I held the knife to him.” Mama spoke and Vi’s shoulders tensed. “The long deep-set scar over his face, reminding me of the man he used to be. The smile on his face reminding me of the monster he is. His bones are metal and cold. I can feel it; the cold inside. I’ve felt it since I woke up and it’s not gone away.”

“Mama...” Vi tried to stay calm as her heartbeat raced at the implication that Mama was _somehow_ telling the room the feelings she was avoiding. Of course she didn’t believe in seers or religions, but this was too close to actual thoughts.

“If I end you perhaps it will end this emptiness. I want to feel hate, I want to feel revenge, but I don’t. I don’t feel at all. I’m so frozen, still frozen...”

As Mama’s words faded away an uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Preston and Sturges made their way over to Mama to make sure she was alright. Vi held her chin high, despite the desire to hide her face, as Piper stared at her with questions. Vi could only manage to shake her head in return.

“That...wasn’t creepy?” Piper learned back and getting her notepad started to scribble some things frantically. “No one told me I was sitting with a wasteland prophet. I thought your kind was a myth or maybe just a hoax.”

“It _is_ a hoax.” Nick said. Vi’s shoulders finally relaxed that someone was on her side, or saw common sense.

“It’s not.” Sturges said, turning to Nick with the first hint of anger on his face. “Mama has seen things before they happen time and time again. You wouldn’t understand unless you’ve been there.”

“It’s called _Hocus Pocus_ for a reason.” Nick added flatly.

Piper waved her hand in his direction to shoo away his interjection. “So, Mama, What’s it like having this _power_ to see things other people can’t?”

“Oh, I don’t have any powers, kid, I just borrow them from the Great Old Ones.” Mama replied wheezing. “Vi knows.”

Vi felt the eyes of the room turn back to her. She froze in place until the soft pressure of a hand could be felt at the center of her back. She turned to Nick who was very literally supporting her. “There’s no such thing as the Old Gods. You might be able to read people very well, Mama, but you can’t read my mind.”

Mama Murphy sighed and shrugged. “Say what you want about the old religions, kid. No skin off my back. I know what I know. Someday you’ll believe me, if you ain’t dead from it first.”

“Soooo,” Piper nearly shouted to change the uncomfortable direction the conversation was going. “Big scar, monster-man. Sounds like you overheard someone talking about Kellogg?”

“No. I’ve seen him in my visions. Is that who you all been looking for and bitching about all night?”

Vi, Piper and Nick nodded as they glanced at each other cautiously.

“Well, hell, I can take you to him.”

“We’ll all go.” Preston said with a gleam on his face. “It will be good to tell you about everything we’ve done so far, general.”

 

 

_Nick,_

_I’m so sorry that I can’t go, but I know you’ll do your best to bring that son of a bitch in for a trial - if you find him. Call me crazy, but I believe Murphy the Madwoman. She knows something. Who knows what it really is, but it’s something._

_The letter from my sis is really worrying so I thought I better take off before everyone wakes up._

_Someone has been poking around, asking Nat really detailed questions about Vi. It’s making her nervous, and you know Nat - that kids got skin of steel. I told Vi in a note that Nat needed me and she won’t question it any further. I don’t want to worry her, but I need to find out who and why someone is asking for a peach haired, angry faced, frozen banana. She ain’t been out of the Vault but a month. No one knows her but a handful of people. Except, of course, the people that took her kid._

_Let’s not focus on that. Right now what we need is proof of what Kellogg was really up to all those years in Diamond City. You get it from your side, and I’ll try to get it from mine._

_There’s still hope it’s not The Institute, even if it’s a small one._

_~Piper_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter :)  
> Vi is not the MM general if that wasn't clear.


	6. Dead or Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR  
> A really long personal letter from Vi to Piper  
> The rest of the chapter is basically Vi and Kellogg. You should just go ahead and read it as it will call back to this chapter a lot later.

_Dearest Piper,_

_I hope everything is alright with your sister. While I'll miss your company, I am glad you’re not going. Even if there is a small prospect we will meet Kellogg, I’d rather have you safe. Nat needs you still._

_The weather has been poor. The travel has taken nearly a week thus far. We are forced to shelter most of the time. Currently we are staying in Egret Tours Marina which is another recently added settlement to Preston’s success. Some of Preston’s new minutemen were dispatched to get supplies from Diamond City, so I sent this letter with them. Preston hopes that eventually supply lines will open up and people will not need to be so self sufficient. It’s hard to fathom something as simple as written word communication being difficult to maintain. I’ve been tweaking my Pip-boy to accept outside frequencies, but as of yet there is just nothing to listen to this far out. Nick wants to install an emergency signal in my Pip-boy, but we need to find something that can receive that signal. The radio receiver in Nick’s framework is broken. It makes me nervous to try and ‘fix’ a friend._

_I don’t really want him - or anyone -  joining me on this mission, but where would I be without the lot of you? Without you I would be lost, but with you I am constantly worried for you safety. I had a good life before the war and this harrowing fear of loss is new to me. Thank your for being so understanding._

_I can’t say if I believe Mama Murphy more than anyone else. I’ve never trusted the old religions, and seeing them in this broken world is bizarre. All the doomsday prophecies have come to pass, or so it seems, so what is left to dread or worship? That’s probably foolish of me to think things can’t get any worse, but is it any more foolish than believing in witchcraft and fate?_

_Yet, here we are faithfully letting her lead us to Kellogg. Who knows, perhaps she overheard something about him months ago and it’s etched into her mind as a subconscious thought. The chems could have triggered the memory and it manifested as a vision. I won’t tell her that. I believe that she believes or so the cliche goes._

_I’m amazed that out of all the religions in the old world, The Church of Starry Wisdom has had as much staying power as to become common adages in your day-to-day language. As you said, no one has physical copies of the old doctrines anymore. It’s all just piecemeal and spoken lore, yet I hear people speak phrases of it and I feel my youth flash before my eyes. You asked me to clarify some meanings as I understood them, but I think you’re looking in the wrong place. I never did believe and thus, I never studied or paid attention. That knowledge may very well be permanently lost, and I’m glad for it._

_There are so many religions to choose, so why this one? This one was secretive and strange even before the bombs.  People have the opportunity to believe in a God(s) that loves and cares for them, but instead turn to the Great Old Gods that hate and deride them; I wonder what that says about the people and the world they live?_

_It’s frightening to think of, but it seems that everything frightens me these days._

_-Vi_

 

* * *

 

As the metal door groaned open the inky darkness issued forth in an enveloping wave crashing down on them and penetrating their entirety. Lights looked dimmer, and faces grew blank. This was it. This was where Kellogg was supposedly hidden among the unseen slithering things. This would be where she would have answers, find the truth.

Beyond this hatch would be where she could start feeling again and the idea pulled up into her chest as sharp pain. Reflexively she stepped back from the dark and Nick put his hand on her back as he had done in the past week. He didn’t need to use words to tell her of his unending support or to weave the story of how he also intimately desired closure. They were both from another world, and they both needed to wrap it up in neat boxes before they could move on in this one.

“I can’t follow you in, kid.” Mama Murphy’s words were lost on Vi’s ears. She didn't care and would go alone if needed.

“The powerframe is too large to navigate those corridors.” Sturges commented as he looked around. “There are good defensive positions here for us. We can stop anyone trying to leave”

“If someone gets past us it’s better if you two just get out of here.” Preston said to his friends.

“Alright Garvey, going to need you to back up at long range. Vi is pretty useless in a gunfight.”

Vi didn’t respond. She turned to Nick and Preston who had mirrored her dark frown. They knew what would happen next, how stepping through that passage was going to finish a chapter of a life that could never be reclaimed.

She wanted it finished; to end her life. Not as badly as she wanted to find her son, but she wanted it all the same. She could taste the relief of finality, and so she was the first to step into the engulfing dread of tightly winding corridors and wetly dripping walls.

There was only one singularity of light in her focused mind. Find Kellogg; be released. Somewhere the idea of being born again in his blood came to her thoughts. She just wanted to move past the pain. She couldn’t stay with it, nor could she carry it in this world. Shaun waited and the pain would keep her from him. Kellogg had become the physical manifestation of misery.

“Ugh, water flooded this whole area. Be careful of what you _can’t_ see.” Preston said softly behind her ear as much a warning as it was a comfort.

The flooded halls and tightly packed control rooms were caressed with growing weeds and moss. Pushing forwards with increased speed and determination, Vi did not step carefully. The water splashed up into her boots and a chill ran through her at the coldness of it.

_Vi and Genie stood under the small shelter waiting for the car they called. It was pouring rain and their dresses hung limp under the weight of all the water the women carried. A few moments later several strangers joined them in the tight space._

“ _Ma’am. You’re shivering, you should take my umbrella.” The young man held out the handle between them, barely covering either. His uniform was mostly dry and freshly pressed. He looked too young to be an officer, yet his manner and rank betrayed this. His dark skin gleamed in the wetness of the air and reflected the street lights like mirrors._

“ _Why? I’m already soaked through.” Vi glared at him and his offer of absurd charity. “Seems foolish to let someone else get drenched in this torrent out of a false sense of chivalry.”_

_The man, clearly surprised by her rebuttal only nodded a soft “Ma’am.” then walked to the far end of the shelter. Genie smiled broadly while following the young man with her eyes._

“ _That was fucking harsh, Vi.” She whispered, “the poor dear only wanted your phone number.”_

_Confused, Vi turned. “Then why didn’t he just ask for it?”_

Nate was not only a good man, he was a good match for her. He cared about everyone even strangers, where she did not. In many ways, when Vi looked over at Preston she saw Nate. Had Nate survived instead of her the world would be better for it. He could walk into a fight with Kellogg and not get himself killed. He could inspire loyalty in those he met. He could convince a sceptical and self-serving young woman to hand over her home phone number just from a random act of kindness.

 _Nate is gone._ She thought again to keep herself focused. She thought of Nate’s death many times a day; each reminder like tiny cuts releasing the pressure of emptiness. Now the empty halls filled with the sound of her march forward.

A soft click alerted the party to the presence of something else in the room. At the far side a small yellow light emitting out of the dark water. Rising up from it’s submerged placement, the face of a synth appeared. The three pulled their guns and aimed, but did not shoot.

“Wait.” Vi whispered to them. The creature was unarmed, yes, but it had Nick’s face. They were practically identical if not for the scar that ran across nick’s forehead in an odd x shape. Nausea filled her throat.

“I get the family resemblance, doll, but you’re better off shooting…”

“Sorry your house has been a wreck for 200 years,” A loud scratchy voice emanated from the synth. “but I didn’t start this. I didn't put the nukes in the air anymore than I put you in those fucking freezers.”

“Kellogg…” Vi answered as she raised her gun higher.

“If I knew you would show up at my door after all this time I woulda ended you when I had the chance. _I spared you_ , and this is how you thank me?”

The back of the synth’s head sparked against the concrete wall as Nick released the trigger.

“Creepy.” Preston added as they continued their descent. The underground base levels were getting deeper as the water continued to rise. Vi lifted her arms to keep her fingertips from dragging in the water. As they ventured, every now and again, Preston would halt and stare into the nearby water before telling the team to move on with haste. Vi’s heart raced when he did this. Her good sense reminded her that Preston was looking for more synths, but something else more primal whispered out of the shadowed ripples.

“Ugh, It’s like some disturbing horror story down here. I hate dark water.” Preston spoke, filling the air with something other than labored breathing and the sloshing sounds of their movement.

“You and everyone else.” Nick replied. “What about you, Vi? What’s your thoughts on the water?”

“The water? Why?” Even as she sped her pace, the temperature dropped and her teeth chattered in her mouth.

“Call it an experiment. You’re old world, like me. I don’t understand people and their fear of all things wet, but I’ll be damned if not most people have a real terror of it.”

“Now that I think of it,” Something brushed against her leg and she jerked herself away from the spot. Looking back into the thick murky liquid, there was nothing to be seen. “It doesn’t feel the same as it did before the war. It’s not _just_ water anymore. It’s a peculiar notion as if something is there when I know there’s nothing.”

“The feeling of something in the water, always watching, never blinking.” Preston whispered, but as Vi looked over he winked at her. She smiled softly at his attempted humor. “But seriously, it is damn creepy down here.”

As the walkway rose again, and the water receded back to barely a puddle, a loud scraping whine of metal signaled a door closing behind them. They turned to see another naked synth barring the doorway they had just passed through. It spoke as it slowly turned it’s head to them.

“Your pissed off I get it, I do, but whatever you hope to accomplish in here, it’s not gonna go your way. It doesn’t matter who you’ve got on your side there is no winning this one. I know, I’ve tried and that’s why you’re here after all.”

“Ignore it.” Vi said as she turned her companions back to their path. “If it could attack us it would have done so by now.”

The three companions marched on, but at each step the limping, water-logged synth spoke to them about their folly. It gave them opportunities to turn around and leave and mocked them for not doing so.

“Not a lot of people can say they were given the same offer as you, but here you are wasting it.”

To Vi’s ears Kellogg sounded as relieved as she at the prospect of this finally being over. Finally they reached a large water sealed door. The engineers of this facility fully expected the flooding and built accordingly.

“The sensors are telling me you’re right outside the bulkhead. That’s right. I could have killed you this entire time. I could have flooded the compartment and you would have drowned without ever seeing my face, but I didn’t. That’s _twice_ now I’ve saved your life by doing the stupid thing. You remember that when I release the door. My synth are standing down. Let’s talk.”

“Doesn’t look like we have much choice.” Preston added.

The muscles in VI’s face clenched until her teeth were fully showing. This was it.

“Remember Shaun, Vi. We need him to talk first.” Nick whispered to her as the final door opened with a pneumatic hiss.

The bright lights from Kellogg’s room pierced the darkened hallway. Shielding her eyes with one hand, she took the first bold step into the room releasing the tension from her face.

Kellogg stood in the center of a pre-war command center with one hand patting gently on a pistol worn on the hip. Shuffling in behind Vi, Nick and Preston took up the best possible positions in such a terrible situation. Kellogg however, had a queer look.

His head tilted and his eyes tightened for just a moment as he tried to look behind them.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but it seems that you fine people walked into a trap I set for someone else. Now would be a good time for you to leave”, Kellogg added as he waved his hand to indicate the door they had just entered through.

The heat in her face burned, but she responded without yelling. “Where is my son, you filth?”

“Filth?” Kellogg recoiled in confusion. “Lady, I don’t know who the hell you are or why the fuck you’re here, but you got about five seconds to remove yourself before I open fire.”

Digging deeper into palms, nails began to draw blood. “You killed my husband and you stole my son. Don’t deny it. I saw your face.”

Again she watched the confusion tell in his eyes before shaking his head, “I’ve killed a lot of husbands and I’ve taken a few kids, but that sounds like a busy day even for me.” The pistol hand began to pat thoughtfully again as he probed, “Were they from Diamond City?”

“Vault one-eleven.”

The whites of Kellogg’s eyes shone bright as his expression became stunned. “You’re the fucking popsicle wife?”

Every breath was used to rally the strength to stay strong. She wanted to turn his face into pulp. Her stomach churned at the very idea that he was still breathing. It was hate. and Finally she was able to feel something. The rush of pure, pleasurable hate pounded at the inside of her skull.

“Tell me where my son is and it will be a quick and easy death for you.”

“This has got to be a joke...”, Kellog’s eyes glided up and down as if sizing her up for the first time. “... and I’ll be honest lady; I’m not sure if the joke’s on you or me. Shaun was a good kid, but he’s long gone. He’s with a family now that won’t give him up, Also, he’s somewhere you’ll never find him.”

“You’re a liar.”

“No, but it doesn’t really matter what I say, something will make you snap; trigger that kill response. It’s kind of funny that a mother came after me after everything else.”

“Funny?” Disgust burned through her veins and breathing became ragged. “You’re a monster. Nate was a good man, and you shot and murdered him.”

Kellogg stepped back and held his hand out and mouthed unsounded letters at his lips, but then stopped with a sigh. “Well, one of those three things is true. Damn, lady, you’re either the real deal or The Institute has outdone themselves this time.”

“So it’s true.” Nick closed in next to Vi. He put his hand on her arm, but not to steady her. She could feel the clicks of adjustment to her pip-boy. “You were working with The Institute while you lived in Diamond City. You were taking people to them, stealing them from their beds.”

“Yeah, that I was,” Kellogg nodded with what looked like a half smile.

“And you did all this on your own?” Nick responded, stepping a little in front of Vi. “No help from the inside?”

“Oh, it is a confession you want?” Kellogg laughed and the sound bounced against the metal of the room’s walls. It filled Vi up with loathing and bile rose from her stomach.  

“Ok you got it. McDonough was in on it. As was the chief of the security. They got a pretty cut.” Kellogg, while speaking to Nick, kept his eyes focused directly at Vi. “Heard that reporter accused him of being a synth, but the truth is easier than that. I’ve done some terrible shit in my time, but at least I had my reasons. The mayor, well, he’s just a bad man.”

As he told the sordid details of how he worked with the leaders of Diamond City he continued to stare down the woman before him as if there was no one else in the room. Vi did not blink. She allowed the unworded conversation to ebb into an understanding. She didn’t care about the details. She was here for an ending.

“I was keeping the commonwealth safe from those madmen in labcoats. So what if it cost a few Diamond City asshats to do it? It’s called the greater good for a reason.” It was Kellogg who first broke the eye contact. “Besides, I don’t do that anymore.”

“And what prompted this sudden change of heart?”

“Sudden?” Kellogg’s eyes relocked onto Vi and his brows sunk in confusion. “Do you even know how long you’ve been in that vault? I haven’t dealt with them in more years than I care to count. I’m the only one protecting the commonwealth from The Institute these days.”

“He said with dozens of synths at his beck and call.” Preston added directly to the left of Vi.

“These things?” Kellogg motioned to the barely held together synths around the room. “These are junk. Old Gen 1’s that I scrapped back together for some help around the house. They can’t even sit up without a direct command to do so.”

“Fine, then. You don’t work for The Institute. I don’t care.” She stepped closer and, strangely, Kellogg stood down. He didn’t try to go for his gun or protest. “Tell me how to find my son.”

“He’s...with The Institute.” The air from Kellogg’s lungs left slowly and deflated his stance. As she got closer he appeared smaller, less frightening and more frightened. “Christ, you look just like you did in that vault. I remember it now. It’s all coming back.”

“Don’t you dare...” She began before he interrupted.

“He pleaded with me to let you out. To help him re-open the doors, but I figured a vault death was a kinder than knowing the truth. I didn’t believe him, any of them back then.” Kellogg raised his hands beside his face, and stepped closer to Vi.

“ _'Fhalma hupadgh fhtagn._ ” His hushed voice was meant only for her, and slipped across the thin air. The guttural language caressed her ears and filled her eyes with painful memories that dropped as single tears to each cheek. “And here you are.”

“Tell me how to get to The Institute.” She demanded gripping both her gun and knife tighter at each step closer he came.

“ _Hrii nog, F’chtenff fm'latgh shugg._ ” His tone was calm, content, and perhaps delighted at what he said.

“Stop. Old religion nonsense.” She responded as the sting of clenched muscles and wet cheeks held her steady. “The Institute, where is it?”

“There’s only one way I know to find it.” Slowly, steadily, and not losing eye contact Kellogg dropped to his knees before her. There was a contract in their shared gaze. _End it. A life for a life._ The contract said. “The answer is inside me.”

“Vi! Step away this is some kind of trick!” Nick called out as Vi stood transfixed at Kellogg.

“You already have your answers, Valentine.” She said quietly back. “But I still need mine.”

“The synths...they’re kneeling! What’s happening? What should I do?” Preston called out from his defensible position, but Vi did not look up to see.

“Give me the answer, Kellogg.” As her knife instinctively pointed at his throat his expression turned to that of resignation. This wasn’t a _fight_ like she expected or desired. He didn’t resist, at all, but instead quietly accepted what fate might bring. He answered her questions in half truths and half lies. In Kellogg was the very essence of the world as it now existed. He was to be pitied, and in her empty heart hate fled and despair filled. Could she enact vengeance now that she witnessed him in sad, plain sincerity?

“I can’t _give_ it to you.” He reached up steadily but did not touch her. Instead he pointed at his own skull. “It’s technology buried deep in my brain. It’s picking up a signal from the Institute right now and the only way to backtrace it is to dig it out of my skull.”

“You’re lying. Why are you doing this?” The rage was slipping and she tried to grasp it back and focus it on the tip of her weapon. Unsteadily, the knife scraped a shallow cut into his cheek. Kellogg had already taken her family and now he saw fit to take the satisfaction of her revenge.

“I thought you were someone else and I was prepared to fight, but now I see I don’t have to. You can do it for me. You can either wait to see if I’m lying and maybe a courser comes through that door and ends you at any moment, or maybe you get a chance to see your boy again, but it doesn’t really matter does it? We both want the same thing.”

“I want my son back you son of a bitch.”

“And I want you to _find_ him. I’ve done everything in my power to make this as easy as possible. If you can’t do this one simple thing...”

The knife came down into his eye socket. Behind her Preston’s voice screamed a string of profanities in a surprisingly high-pitched voice, but Nick simply added, “Yeah, that wasn’t going to end well.”

Vi’s body lurched forward. She allowed the pommel to slip through her bloody fingers and the limp body flop backwards onto the floor. The result was a wet cracking noise as Kellogg’s head found a violent and sudden resting place against concrete. No tangible throughs entered into Vi’s mind. She knelt down quickly to feel for a pulse at his neck.

“That’s about the deadest guy I’ve ever seen, doll.” One eye twitched then relaxed in recognition of a sound, but only the nothingness of shock echoed as her hands now began to feel their way through his pockets. Vision returned first as Vi was now watching her hands frantically turning pockets out and flipping the corpse over in desperate search.

Hands stopped. Breathing stopped. One emotional note began to sing in her head starting as some distance dampened, sound. Intensity and pitch increased until everything she understood of herself and what she was capable of sat within that shrill note. As if a symphony of madness could be composed of one key forever blaring out.

_Murderer_

Her mind crooned.  

_Murderer_

Vi’s screams enveloped the room as Preston calmly crept up behind her. His own rifle clattered minimally to his shoulder as he wrapped loving, cautious arms around hers. His fingers firmly slipped the pistol out of her other hand.

“You’re not alone.” Preston’s soft mantric chant reached her, but he made no effort to stop her screaming.

“Kellogg...” Vi trembled as the adrenaline’s effect began to waver. “He took everything and now what?”

Nick shifted nervously as her cloudy eyes locked onto his. “What the fuck am I supposed to do now?” Preston quickly moved back as Vi exploded to her feet and strode across the room toward Nick.

Stepping away from her, Nick tripped onto one of the consoles. His hands fumbled to become steady on top of the crumbling guts of the computer. Vi’s long stride quickly closed the distance. Her white-hot words seared his face as she leaned over him. “How many people have you found ‘alive’ detective?” Grabbing an old emergency axe which had been leaning up against Nick’s console, she turned and stalked back to the body. Standing astride the body, Vi raided the axe above her head. Despite the tears and the violent gasping breaths, she turned to plead to Nick. “At least promise me my baby is still alive?”

Nick couldn’t answer. He stared at the loosening thread of hope drip from her chin. A moment later Vi’s axe came down splitting Kellogg’s skull like melon. Her neck strike used the axe to pry the two halves apart.

“Hot fucking damn, lady, it’s no wonder your man pleaded like he did for you.”

Horrified and covered in the splattered blood of Kellog, Vi turned at the sound of his voice. The synths were rising from their prone positions. She gripped the handle of her axe and readied for an attack. Preston and Nick quickly did the same.

“What the fuck is this?” Preston yelled.

“Looks like Kellogg has a few tricks left. My guess is that Vi just killed his synth double.”

“Fucking coward!” She was simultaneously shouting and gasping for air. “I will murder you a thousand times if I have to!”

“I believe you.” The worn old synth replied. “Glad that’s not me, well,” he laughed, “not the real me you just chopped into a sludge, but the part you need is in there all the same.”

“Come back and prove it.”

“Again, lady, I _let_ you have this clue. I gave it to you. Doubles are really useful and now I don’t have access to anymore. ” The synth sighed as it’s yellow eyes shined brightly at her. “You ain’t got any chance against me, but I didn’t spare you for kicks. You’re the only one who has a real shot of living more than a second after they find the Institute. When you bury the institute I’ll come to the funeral. If you’re still itching for revenge we can work it out then. Until that day I got work to do lady, and I can’t let you or anyone stop me.”

The synths all fell to the ground. The lights in their eyes dimming down. Vi turned her axe on each and every one.

 

* * *

 

The night after Kellogg’s double had been killed, Vi was changed. She didn’t sleep. She didn’t look at anyone. Her restless scratching on paper, then quickly throwing that paper into the fire kept his sensors trained on her. Eventually, as the daylight broke, Vi fell into and exhausted sleep. Months back Nick had wondered how she would behave when the eventuality of the commonwealth would drive over her hopes.

She was bloodthirsty. Enraged, yes, not in full control of her faculties, sure, but when someone was under that kind of stress their true selves shined out. It was as she slept soundly that Nick feared he was looking at a future raider or hopeless drug addict. That angry look did not fade in her sleep. Sometimes it resurfaced so deeply he was sure she would wake, but didn’t. Blood oozed from her nose.

Preston, Sturges, and Mama Murphy left the camp to move on to their own duties while Vi was asleep. He was a little glad. Preston was fine folk, but Mama made his gears spin with her chem induced visions and weak “prophecies.”

“She not through the blood yet. There’s lots more that will wash across her face before the kid finds her purpose.” Mama said to Nick before she left. He hated to admit that the crazy old bat was probably right, this time.

When Vi finally woke it was approaching night. She didn’t say much to Nick and didn’t even ask where her friends had gone. He made sure she ate something and they packed up to head to Goodneighbor.

There was only one scientist in the commonwealth that had the kind of knowledge of brain interface devices that Nick knew. It was too bad that she was smack in the middle of the town Nick had been avoiding. He’d seen stronger people than Vi get lost in the readily available and comforting arms of the chem dealers in that town.

Hancock wrote to Nick, _frequently_ , and always assured him that the town was getting cleaner and nicer by the day. In his letters were secure promised that Hancock and Fahrenheit were going to make Goodneighbor a place people wanted to go and not just _that place_ people were forced to go. Nick remembers when Hancock first started talking this way five years ago and not much progress had been made. To be fair, Hancock had inherited the largest dump heap the commonwealth had to offer. Ten years ago the place was completely different and so much worse than it was today, but that still didn’t today’s Goodneighbor nice.

Nick told Vi about Goodneighbor, trying to prepare her for what might cast her astray, but Vi said little in return. She graciously smiled at his stories, nodded as he passed her rations or pointed out areas they walked past. Her squints were indications eyesight slowly failing, but Nick set her stoic face to memory and could not match it to the one he had seen only a few months prior. Each day the color drained further and further from her eyes and a cloudy cataract formed.

As a couple days went by they were within a few hours of Goodneighbor and Nick sighed deeply. He stopped himself and her under the rare clear night sky.

“Nine.” He spoke flatly.

“What?” She looked at him confused.

“The question you asked. _How many people have I found ‘alive’?_ ”

“Shit. Nick I…”

“Nine.” He wouldn’t let her interrupt. “The answer is nine people have been found alive, but not all of them have wanted to return.”

“What I said was heartless in a weak moment. I don’t think of you like that, you know that right?” Vi approached him and he could see her sincerity. She was capable or lies or manipulation, but she was a person that didn’t see much reason to tell anything but the truth. That why her words hurt and gnawed at him for days because she was being honest. She was right.

“I know, doll, but it still needed to be said.” Nick put his hand on her shoulder and she closed her eyes. “Once something like that has been said, you have to finish it. You can’t leave it or it will fester and get bigger with time. So now I need to ask. Do you want to know the other number?”

“No.” She said without hesitation. “It doesn’t matter how many others there were...” She looked away.

“What’s been eating you these last few days, Vi? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this distracted.”

She paused and looked down. Her hands ran along the tattered ruffled of the blood-soaked rose colored dress.

“Was Kellogg...that double of his, what he a person?” Vi sucked her lips in thin and tight. “I mean he was obviously flesh and blood and _alive_ , but was he self aware, was he like you are? Sentient?”

“I appreciate the confidence, but I don’t really have an answer for you. The gen 3 synths are manufactured like I was, but as far as philosophically alive I don’t know. Half the folks are too terrified of synths to think about it, and the other half have never met one.” Nick replied.

“And what do you think?”

“I think they are people like any other. Just their brains been filled with whatever the institute wants to fill it with. It’s easy to control your ‘machines’ if you can fill their brains with lies.”

“Then it’s possible I murdered an innocent man.” She was calm, without remorse in her tone. But Nick could perceive past the surface and saw muscles tighten and heart rate soar angrily.

Shots rang down the previously empty street. The shouts of raiders soared from the windows high above. Nick turned to grab onto Vi, but dust distorted vision as the a nearby crumbling wall was disturbed by the gunfire and slid further into a wreckage pile. When the cling cling of a grenade could be heard Nick could only dive for cover and hope she did the same.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meaning of Kellogg's bullshit:  
> Mother born of sleep.  
> Her followers come. Their society burns the earth.


	7. Woman meets Googneighbor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vi meets Cait and Strong  
> A day in Goodneighbor

“Strong bored. Hear gunfire outside. We should be killing with the rest. Not rummaging in junk.”

Tilting her neck hard to the side, the crack of Cait’s bones echoed in the quiet building.

“You’re free to go whenever you please, big guy.” Her voice sounded mechanical through the filters of the gasmask. “But I know a guy who will pay good money for this poison and money buys ammo. Ammo gets kills, kills gets meat for you, and more money for me.”

_**Repeat: a chemical leak has been detected. Please evacuate the building immediately.** _

“Make me leave loud man!” Strong yelled down the hallway of the old chemical testing facility.

“Glad we aren't relying on stealth to deal with these fucks.” Cait said as she unloaded a volley into a gunner and raider that both emerged from around corners. Strong ran off after a third gunner screaming about tearing flesh with a hammer. She chuckled under the gas mask. If nothing else, Strong was always fun in a fight.

Cait sauntered towards what looked like a decontamination area. Down the long hallway several people muttered to themselves.

“How many of you sad shits got caught in here when the leak sprung?” These gunners weren't doing anyone any harm as they were, but it would be cruel to leave them in the state. Cait put bullets in their heads as she passed. In any other situation Cait might be laughing, but this was on HalluciGen. Besides, the gunners never did bother her much. It’s not like they were _raiders_.

The combat zone got worse the longer she lived there. Over the last year a group of raiders took control of the surrounding territory. Diamond City refused to help the settlement nearby and they were all wiped out or recruited. The combat zone which had been a recreational fighting arena, a place to make some extra caps, and have fun, quickly became like real life front line fighting once the raiders took over.

Finding human combat too boring, raiders began dragging all manner of beasts and monsters into the ring for the fighters to engage. The other fighters either died in the ring, or slowly succumb to the injuries the monsters dolled out. Until finally Cait was alone. She shot accusing glares at Tommy, but he shook his head unable to protect himself let alone the fighters at the combat zone. They were stuck. Either fight or die. Cait felt like a slave all over again.

The raiders eventually brought in five super mutants for her (and other “volunteered” fighters) to brawl. One by one the mutants butchered the raiders, but Cait defeated them each in turn. Either by outwitting, using drugs, or just plain luck Cait was victorious. Finally only one super mutant remained and he sat in his cage staring at her.

“ _What the fuck are you lookin’ at, bucko?” Cait sneered at the mutant as she realized her last dose of psycho was gone and it was probably a raider that stole it._

“ _Strong watched the little humans fight brothers. Other humans die. Brothers die and tiny lady is alive. Brothers were stronger than Strong. Tiny lady is stronger than Strong.” The mutant tried to stretch his back out only to find the metal bars impeding him._

“ _What of it, ya piss stain?” She said without looking at him. Her eyes were following a group of raiders that were dragging some new “challengers” into the back room. The challengers were both young women who looked terrified. Probably some travellers that ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Better die in a fight, she thought to herself, than die from the other wrongs raiders were capable of._

_The women cried as they were dragged. Cait’s eyes closed as she raised her hands to her face. The adrenaline thumping in her ears like drums as the noise of screams only got louder. The raiders merely laughed. Even in their fuckery Cait had to be silent or fear retaliation. She was constantly being asked - no -  forced to put up with the raider rule. As her bones thickened and hardened with each horrible day, her skin felt as though it were being stretched thin over the top ready to rip apart._

“ _You are stronger than strong little lady, but humans do not help humans. Humans hurt their brothers. Humans force the weak ones to fight the strong ones. Humans will always be weak compared to super mutants.”_

_It wasn’t about the women or the super mutant or the year of torture and frustration, Cait told herself as she reached for her barbed wire baseball bat. It wasn’t about the abuse or the racketeering, Cait thought as she unlocked the super mutant’s cage. It was because some stupid mother fucker stole her last god dammed hit and she just is past done with having her shit taken by jizz biscuit eating raider trash._

“ _Quit your whining. Let’s kill some shit.” She said as Strong pulled himself from the cage._

Three week ago Cait and Strong destroyed the Combat Zone together. Cait and Strong helped those women get back to hangman’s alley and were rewarded with caps and food and clothes and, well...Cait found the partnership to be beneficial very quickly.

Strong ate whoever they killed. It was gross but why let it go to waste. The raiders were going to rot on the street and be eaten by a mole rat or stray dog anyway. Strong loved getting new weapons (which was mostly her leftovers) and that was it. He didn’t want anything else, and she got to do whatever the hell she wanted. The best part was no one was likely to start a fight with someone who has a super mutant as a drinking buddy. The soundest sleep of her life had been next to the giant green creature.

Strong wasn’t all good things, nothing is. He certainly made it hard to trade, but who wanted to trade with the likes of self-fucking diamond city anyway? Travelling was a little worse because he could not fit into the tight spaces that she was accustomed to travelling through, but again it was small in comparison. The worst bit was the complaining. She wondered what the hell super mutants did all day to keep themselves from acting so bored. Maybe they annoyed each other with complaining so much that they would fight each other to keep busy.

Cait turned into a hallway with large glass windows and saw a bunch of expensive looking equipment on the other side. She immediately wondered if it would fetch her some extra money and smiled when the canisters she was looking for came into view.  

“Payday.” She started to reach for the nearby door release when Strong’s pounding footsteps roared down the halls behind her, probably trying to figure out where she’d gone. A moment later the room on the other side of the glass filled up with noise and debris.

“What the shit is this now?” She tried to catch a look into the room before opening the doors. With the amount of ferals in this part of town it was always good to be certain.

“Leave me alone!” A woman screamed from the other side of the glass but she was nowhere to be seen. That’s when Cait saw the raiders shuffling into the smoke filled room looking for something, probably the screamer. Cait reassured herself that the door was locked before deciding what to do. Those raiders could get away with her goods, or worse, damage them.

“Come on out, birdy. We like you’re pretty feathers.” One of the raiders cooed and then whistled. The others laughed in turn. “So soft and pink and fluffy. We want to hear you _sing_.”

By now, Cait had decided that she would murder the raiders herself. It wasn’t to save the unknown woman, it was because Cait just didn’t like the sound of their pathetic fucking voices. Strong jogged up behind her and demanded that she open the door. Her hand moved towards the magnetic lock.

As the raiders were so focused on looking at their feet and laughing, they did not see the woman who stood suddenly. Their dusty ‘birdy’ stretched tall and her eyes focused rage in the back of the raider’s head. Matted, dried blood covered the front of her entire dress stretching across ripped leggings and semi-bare arms. Cait’s hand stilled at the button as she watched mesmerized.

The woman’s fluid movement silently wrapped her arms around the raider’s neck. In one swift movement she turned the raider’s head fully to the side, in the next jagged opposite movement came a crack so loud it was heard through the glass.

“Bitch!” A second raider got the drop on her from behind, but the birdy was slippery. With efficiency Cait rarely saw outside of the combat zone, the woman twisted out of the hold and took the man’s baton from him. She then proceeded to beat his skull in as blood splashed across the glass.

“Fluffy human is shrewd fighter, but lacking power and confidence in thrust.”

“Shrewd?” Cait almost looked up at Strong, but couldn’t tear her eyes from the bloodthirsty woman. “Do you even know what that means?”

“Strong not stupid, _Cait_. Language complicated! Language stupid!” He shouted then slammed his fist against the giant glass window.

The woman behind the glass was startled by Strong’s sudden banging. She became distracted long enough for another raider to grab her by the throat.

“Oh damn.” Cait added as the raider quickly cornered the woman. Large hands wrapped her neck as the woman’s back was slammed into the concrete wall. Barely stopping to recover, the woman raised her arms between the raider’s grip and reached for his head. She started to dig her fingers into his eyes.

He screamed and released his hold, and that’s when she took the opportunity to slam his head into anything she could find, propelling him into the next object with the force of the latest bounce.

“Strong want to fight fluffy human!” He screamed and the woman bent down. When she got back up she was pointing the raider’s shotgun at the glass.

“Both of….you…” The woman’s hazy eyes lingered on Strong before continuing. “...people….stay back. I’m not fucking around. I’ve come too far to die this way.”

“Which way to die work for you? Strong versatile.”

“Strong, stop.” Cait laughed. “We ain’t got any gripe with you, fluff. Not everyone in the wealth is raider trash.” Cait watched from behind the goggles on the gasmask as the stranger considered her next step.

“Not from around here, huh? Look, you’re holding a gun next to the goods I want, and I’ve got a super mutant that won’t be stopped by your shit weapon or fancy fightin’. Look lady we just want to go our separate ways. I’ve wasted enough damn ammo in this tomb.”

Holstering the weapon the woman walked up the the glass and looked directly at Cait. “Very well.” Her voice was steady as if she had just finished drinking a pint, not killing three raiders in quick succession. “Can you provide the coordinates to Goodneighbor? I can’t pay anything, but these raiders probably have caps and drugs on them.”

Cait’s eyes narrowed. Through the days the taste for psycho started to weigh heavy on her muscles even though the desire to use it waned. There was only way to get it regularly and cleanly. Goodneighbor. And if this lady was heading that way then some fresh gratitude might come in handy.

“Yeah I know the way, but I don’t want your small potatoes.” Cait pressed the release on the door and it hissed open to the room. Once on the other side she threw a spare gasmask at the woman hoping the gas did not already get into her system too badly. “Put this on. You’re going to help us carry the goods.”

 

*

“Thanks, fluff, but this is where we part ways.” Cait said as Vi dropped the heavy bag of toxins on the floor next to a rusted metal door.

Vi’s eyes followed down Cait’s long muscular arm as it pointed to bright lights at the end of a street.

“Me and the big guy won’t go into Goodneighbor proper. I kinda owe some people some money and want to avoid some other people after maybe breaking a bottle on their heads.” Cait shrugged. “You know how it is.”

“Thank you for helping me get here, Cait.” Vi began to detach the gasmask from around her neck.

“Keep it. They sell for shit in goodneighbor since so many people are ghouls.” Cait’s lips pursed then tilted to the side. “You sure you wanna go in there? Goodneighbor’s not very welcoming to strangers.”

“I don’t need them to welcome me, I just need them leave me alone.” Vi answered cooly.

“Ha! Shit I like you, fluff. I hope we see you around again.” Cait opened the door and began to descend down the stair on the other side.

“Strong would like to kill with pink human someday!” Strong added before he slammed the metal door shut behind him.

“Thanks.” Vi whispered.

As she approached the city proper she noted the underwhelming aspects of it. The front entrance was tucked into a dark, dead-end corner of ruin and rubble, and was marked with a single neon sign which pointed to a small metal door. The barricade that surrounded the door was a smattering of all varieties of building materials. Aesthetics aside, it was likely to hold against heavy gunfire and Vi was relieved at a city outside of Diamond city that was capable of holding out against a forward attack. However, the door itself was unguarded. Her hand turned the semi-rusted handle to release.

It was strange, wrong, having such a barricade but no one guarding it and leaving it completely unlocked. Before pushing the door open, Vi looked around the street. Her eyes searched upward to the buildings wondering if perhaps there were scouts looking for danger. Quickly she looked back to the door, dejected.

 _Even if there were sniper I could never spot them. Damn Vault-tec and their miserable cryo pods. If I had only listened to Genie when she warned me._ The city opened to a busy marketplace with faces of human and ghouls alike, and her guilt grew deeper. Every face could have been replaced by a friend at the fresh market on a sunday afternoon. They bartered and laughed and accused each other of enjoying the “wrong” thing. Goodneighbor was a community at first glance, yet she was repeatedly told that it was where villains and despots resided. Boston had not changed.

_Her family reminded her of the danger of going to “that” part of town. The affluent, while simultaneously looking down on the Croups, often talked of the poor areas of Boston with distaste. It was reported to be not only dangerous, ill-behaved, and rundown, but also there were no police to protect you from the hoards of ignorant souls that lined the streets looking for drugs._

_Being unlearned in the dire aspects of the world, Vi made her way to those very “dismal streets” only to find them thriving and filled with people enjoying life rather than hiding from it. She bought steamed sandwiches and flowers from street merchants, and was handed a flyer that would forever change her life._

“ _Always have the upper hand. Learn self-defense and protect yourself and your loved ones from any and all harm.” Vi hummed as she considered what she needed to sell to pay for the sessions without being noticed by the Croup accountants._

_From that moment she refused to believe anything she did not see evidence of._

Taking another step into the busy market, Vi was stopped suddenly by a very large man, who had the unfortunate trait of looking like Kellogg from a distance.

“Hold up there. First time in Goodneighbor? Can’t go walking around without insurance.”

 

*

“Quit holding out on me, Daisy. Last time the supplies came in, what you sold only lasted a couple days.”

“I already told you, mayor, there’s a ten apple maximum for each customer. Yourself included. It wouldn’t be fair if the rich folks got all the goods.”

“I don’t want em all. I just want enough to last a week after Fahrenheit and the other good-for-nothings around the state house steal my stash.”  

“Get better guards.”

“It’s the guards that are takin em!”

“Well,” Daisy passed over a small paper sack filled with produce. “Eat them faster I guess?”

Hancock took the bag and cradled it greedily in his arms. When he spied Fahrenheit quickly approaching, he tucked the bag under his coat.

“Hancock,” Fahrenheit moved next to him, lightly pushing the other people in line out of the way. “I think that lady Valentine was looking for just walked into town.”

Hancock tilted his tricorn down to Daisy, saying goodbye before he turned back to Fahrenheit. “If you think I’m falling for that again, Fahr, you’ve got another thing coming...”

_She was maybe ten years old when they found her. Nearly as feral as any ghoul you might find in a cave. Right rescued from the gang that held the west side of Goodneighbor, before Hancock’s gang cleared them out. Daisy, Magnolia, and Hancock all agreed to raise her as best they could, but she didn’t take to kindness at first. It was easily a couple years before she trusted a single one of them. Hancock was fretful as the girl got older. Fahrenheit, she liked to be called, was more and more like him by the day. He didn’t know if he should be proud of worried for her._

“No, _seriously_ , I’m not fucking around this time. I think that’s her.” She motioned for the bag of apples under his coat. “Give em here. You need to get over there.”

“Sure.” He laughed at her attempt. “Even if it is, who cares? It’s not like she’s going anywhere.”

“Well, smartass, Finn just approached her.”

The sound of that name made Hancock grind his teeth. Vexed, Hancock closed his eyes as he sighed. “Fucking seven hells, _Finn_.”

“Better hurry,” Fahrenheit added. “I think she’s pulling a weapon.”

“Alright, _shit,_ ” Hancock regretfully handed the apples into Fahrenheit's arms. “I’m gonna take a finger for every missing apple, _I swear to god, Fahrenheit._ ”

“Uh huh, well in the meantime Finn’s trying to take her weapon…”

As Hancock turned, the crowd started bagan to partake in their usual sounds of gasps and hoots when violence erupted on the streets. There were more sounds of amusement than fear which he assumed to be a good sign of folks feeling safe in their home.

“Whoa whoa. Time out.” As he spoke the crowd hushed and parted. The view gave way to the woman who had caused Nick Valentine to become totally distracted for two months.

At first glance she was incredibly pallid. It was not just pale, but like someone who’d lived in a cave or stayed indoors hiding from the radiation winds. He would have pinned her as a vault dweller, but her face told him another story. She was not afraid, at all, as she shoved her boot into Finn’s throat and pulled a knife from it.

Gasmask, hand armored jacket, and leather boots were pretty standard gear for a wanderer, but the ripped and frilly rose dress made her stand out. It’s pink hues drawing additional attention to her peach hair which was pinned up in tight, wide loops.

“Do you know how many people I’ve killed today?” She looked calm and poised as her low voice addressed Finn waving the knife near his face. Hancock suddenly felt warm and exhilarated at her show of control.

“Maybe you should gather that information before you threaten a stranger.”

Finn could not answer as he gasped for breath.

“Do you know how to clean your shoes of filth?” She showed her teeth as she spoke. “Scrape it off with a knife.”

“Whoa who, ok now.” Hancock could feel the smile grow on his face before he spoke. “Damn, sister. I like you already.”

Her attention was so directionally focused on Finn that when Hancock started to speak she turned the knife upward and stared at him wide eyed. Her face didn’t signal threat as much as a surprise that someone would have the nerve to interfere. Her eyes were flashes of white over a faded, unknown color as she glanced around at the growing crowd.

“First time in a new place and you need to make a show of dominance, I get it, but see I’m the mayor here and I think you’re making these fine folks behind me nervous.” He said stepping a little closer.

Her her foot released Finn’s neck and she stepped backward. Finn immediately started cussing and coughing as he attempted to get up and save face.

The woman examined the situation with a cold expression, and then turned her knife around with one swift movement.

“I’m not here to make trouble. Keep your trash away from me, mayor, and no one needs to be nervous.” She held the hilt of her knife out to Hancock as she spoke. He laughed lightly and carefully took the knife in a show of good faith.

“You hear that, Finn? Even a stranger knows you’re trash tryin’ that extortion crap.” Hancock felt relieved as the crowd started to disperse behind him.

“You’re soft, Hancock.” Finn choked on his words as he stood. Holding his throat he approached Hancock aggressively and easily stood several inches over him. “You keep letting outsiders walk all over us. Maybe _someone_ should put you down. I think...”

As the blade pierced inside Finn’s throat, Hancock did not look away from the women and considered her sharper than life features. She flinched, only barely, as the blood spurt from Finn before locking her eyes back to his. He would have never guessed she was a killer, but her reaction couldn’t deny it. Staring at the biggest threat in the room meant you were sizing up the next possible target. Hancock knew the look well.

“I am the mayor after all. It would be rude to ask a guest to take out the trash.” Hancock turned to the crowd behind him. “Alright, that’s enough. Get out of here ya lookie loos. Someone clean up this mess.”

He could see from the corner of his vision the woman try to slip away into the crowd. Quickly he moved himself to walk beside her. “The name’s Hancock and despite what you’ve seen, you are welcome in Goodneighbor.”

“It’s already lived up to much of what I’ve hear, but thank you nonetheless.” She responded. They way she looked around the street made it clear she didn’t know where she was going. She just wanted to get away from the crowd, and possibly him.

“Well, look at you with the manners. A shame folks are still turning their nose up at us. A town with that kinda reputation is gonna draw that kind of element, ya know?” He wiped her knife across his pants and held it out to her, hilt first. “Until I get that sorted you might need this back.”

As she took the knife her eyes turned from trepidation to something else, something soft. “I’m looking for a friend.”

“Ain’t we all,” He smiled wide at her. “But I know the particular friend you got in mind and it looks like he’s running up the street now.”

 

* * *

 

A few hours had passed since she arrived in Goodneighbor. While Nick was busy getting the appointment with Dr. Amari, Vi was busy securing rations and other things required to survive. She traded most of what she found on the road for a very small amount. Around dinner time several people were on the streets cooking stews in iron pots over open fires. They openly traded the fresh food and Vi decided to to buy a bowl of a particularly good smelling brown soup. The chunks that rolled around in her bowl seemed to be a mixture of root vegetables and meat. Vi didn’t want to know what the meat was, so she sat at a bench near the memory den and began to eat.

She was out of the way next to an intersection of alleys and collapsed buildings. Glancing down at the knife in her boot, Vi doubled down on eating faster. She was worried that the thoughts of her recent violence would drive the hunger away. She wanted to believe she was justified in her killing, but the more she considered it, the more it made the acid in her belly rise.

Not far into the soup, Nick joined her on the bench. He informed her that Amari would not be able to do the procedure until tomorrow morning, and Vi wanted to put her face in the soup. She wanted to breath in the hot juice and drown. One more night of sleeping with horrors, her own thoughts and her own guilt seemed too much. All she wanted was her baby.

_He’s six months old by now._

A scene erupted in front of them as Fahrenheit pushed a man into one of the market stalls.

“That’s all he had on him!” The man’s hands shook and he stuttered as he spoke.

“Some goddamned swords?” Fahrenheit threw a long elegant chinese officer’s sword towards the man. “Do you think I’m a moron? No one uses a fucking sword to fight, Frank. Let alone to start a war. This guy was a fucking weapons trader. You’re holding out on us, or holding out for someone else.”

“Th-there there were some caps...too.” Frank frantically looked around himself to the street for help. His eyes were met with people turning away and trying to mind their own business. Vi did not look away.

“Oh, now there are caps too? Funny. Anything else you forgot?”

Frank paused and breathed heavily. He must have shook his head ‘no’ as Vi did not hear a response.

“Alright, look, you wanna have some fun? Let’s place a bet.” Fahrenheit suggested and suddenly the crowd on the street seemed interested. People gathered closer and Vi spied the bright red of Mayor Hancock’s coat push to the front of the crowd.

“If anyone, at all, on this entire fucking street knows how to fight with a fucking sword I won’t kill Frank and I’ll buy everyone here a drink at The Third Rail.”  Her arms wide, Fahrenheit spun in a circle looking at the crowd.  “But if not, then I gut him right now for being a backstabbing little liar.”

“I know what you’re thinking doll, but you need to stay out of Goodneighbor business.” Nick said into Vi’s ear and she put her soup down.

“Well, anyone?” Fahrenheit ask. “Going once, twice…”

“Wait, yes. I can fight with a sword.” Vi said as she stood. It was one thing to not get involved, but she couldn’t just let someone die for no reason that she could see. There was enough blood on her hands for one damn day.

The crowd muttered cheerfully when Vi spoke as her previous display was fresh in everyone’s mind.

“You again?” Fahr scoffed as she laughed, “Prove it.”

“Very well. I’m only doing this because you called the bet.” Lifting her bag from around her shoulder, Vi placed all of her belongings that could slow her down onto the bench.

Fahrenheit bent over to pick up a sword and tossed it. Vi caught the sabre by the handle and swung it with precision.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone to prove a bet.” Vi said.

Smiling like the cat that caught the canary, Fahrenheit placed her hands on her hips. “Oh, don’t wanna fight to the death? Seeing as how you’re fighting me, can't say I blame you. Allright, pawn, I get it. But what do you say to upping the stakes?”

Keeping her attention on Fahrenheit, Vi could see the crowd taking bets to the side.

_Same old Boston._

“Maybe you should sit this one out, Doll.” Nick stood and walked up behind her.

“Absolutely not.” Vi said with without thinking. “I won’t just sit here and let someone die when I could do something to stop it, even when it’s not _entirely my business_.”

From the crowd, Hancock walked up next to Fahrenheit, but addressed Vi. “I get it, Sister, wanting to help where you can, but this is a sticky one. You don’t know the whole story and _that's_ the only reason we’re not taking offence. Now ya gonna _need_ to beat my friend here if you really want to save the life of this backstabbing liar.” He glanced over to Frank.

“Look, Hancock, Vi’s heart’s in the right place, but she’s not from around here.” Nick attempted to interject fearing the worst from his friend’s deliberation.

“I’m not a child, Nick.” Her face blushed red-hot and Vi felt more upset at Nick then the whole situation. “I knew what I was doing when I did it.”

“Yeah, _Nick_.” Hancock replied with a large smile and exaggerating the N in his name. “Mrs. manners gets how dangerous interfering can be. I can see that plain enough.” Hancock walked around Vi, inspecting her. When he got to Nick’s side he stopped. “No need to be so protective. So, Fahre, what do you want if you win?”

“It’s not like she’s got much.” Fahrenheit cracked her neck and shoulders. “The hair’s pretty, nice an shiney too. I could use some extensions.”

“Well what do you say to that? When you lose my friend here will cut off your beautiful tresses. Does that bother you? Want to back out now?” Hancock lit a cigarette offering Vi a chance to change her mind.

“ _If_ I lose, but since the Mayor thinks my hair is so beautiful, I’m inclined to keep it.” Vi walked closer and held her sabre up. She nodded at Fahrenheit politely.

“You sure know how to pick em, Nick.” Hancock turned to Nick holding out an extra cigarette. Grumpily, Nick accepted.

“Whenever you’re ready, Deputy Mayor.” Vi nodded forward towards Fahrenheit.

“Deputy Mayor? Ha!” Fahrenheit stomped her foot down and readied for a charge. “You get a load of her?”

“Yeah, I’m getting a pretty big picture alright.” Hancock said so low he was nearly inaudible. Nick did not respond but instead grumbled about how it was a mistake to take her to Goodneighbor at all.

“I’ll only break one bone, since I like you.” Looking incredibly frightening, Fahrenheit leaned forward and then started to charge.

_Breathe._

Grounding herself, Vi tried to imagine any one of her many sabre sparring partners. She put herself in a time before now, before the bombs, before people murdered each other on the streets. A time when Vi meant something to someone, when her life had meaning. When she had hope instead of Shaun further away than she could have imagined. The endless roads and empty clues that led to a man who had nothing to share. She was lost in the moment and Fahrenheit still charged.

_They are all lost._

Vi’s eyes shot open as her heartbeat began to race. Every sensation at the tips of her fingers sparked at the desperate life around her.

_Lost to the monsters._

Through the thick of the panic she could hear the pounding of footsteps. Fahrenheit's battle cry brought a precision to Vi’s senses.

_The monsters are eternal, but we can fight._

Suddenly, Vi could see the monster that lurked just behind her opponent. There it hunched and twitched, pulsing and black. Only the very outline of its form visible in the street light. Her target set, Vi started the lunge.

_Succumb to the call of the righteous. Be devoured by it._

_*_

When he woke up today, Hancock hadn’t counted on murdering someone because of a beautiful woman and then watching the same woman start a good old fashioned duel with Fahrenheit. It wasn’t just a good day, it was a _prime_ day. He wanted to ask Nick her story, but also knew people had a right to their secrets and privacy. Oh, she was lost out here, of that he was sure. The way she stood, spoke, the length of her hair, the fresh scars and bruises over an otherwise flawless flesh all told him of a life she had that was very uncommon in the commonwealth. Even more strange was the way this woman nearly killed one lowlife, then stood to save another on a single day.

Vi was stood statuesquely as Fahrenheit started her charge. She was so still that Hancock got a little worried for the woman. Anyone in her shoes would be showing some kind of fear or anxiety at the towering presence of Fahre, but Vi’s eyes went blank as she stared ahead like she wasn’t there anymore. As Vi stepped forward, Hancock witnessed a well dressed man brandishing a knife and moving in a straight line for Fahrenheit’s back. _Assassin. Goddammit, triggermen!_

“Behind you!” Vi cried before Hancock could warn Fahrenheit. Vi tread into Fahre’s powerful charge and took the brunt of the Fahre’s blade slash to her forearm armor. A small splash of blood and a cry in pain told a story of cheap armor placed in a hurry. Parrying and teeth baring wide, Vi pointed her own sword at a new target, and with ease she slid past her former opponent and reached with increasing speed towards the triggerman.

Another small zag and push, Vi ducked into the lunging charge. As she raised her sabre upward the hot sticky spray splashed across her rose lips. The man was gutted belly to beard.

“Well, shit.” Hancock mused as Nick started to make his way to his friend’s side. “I didn't imagine her this much of a scrapper.” He put his hand on the shoulder of the bewildered Fahrenheit.

“What the fucke was that?” Fahrenheit took a moment to get her grip and turn around. When she looked at the body of the triggerman falling flat to the ground and Hancock not _immediately_ retaliating, she realized what happened. “Fucking _literally_ backstabbing pieces of shit.” Fahre spat as she crossed to the Frank.

“You ok kid?” Nick started to put his hand on Vi’s arm, but she lept away in a panic.

“It’s not a man. It was a monster. It wasn’t a man, I swear!” She moved backwards so quickly that she ran into Hancock only to trip and start to fall. Hancock reached his arms out to hold her up.

“Calm down there, Sister, I’ve got you.” He grabbed Vi’s wrist that still held the sabre and kept it down at her side.

“No no. It’s moving on. Anger. angry, hungry. It’s going to kill you, us...” Panic was in her face as she struggled against his hold.

“What’s wrong with her, Nick?” Hancock glared at Nick from behind the struggling Vi.

“This doesn't make sense. I’ve been travelling with her for months, she’s a level headed gal.” Nick rushed up to Vi and cupped her face in his good hand. “Maybe something else...”

A flash from a muzzle went off to the left and Fahrenheit lowered her pistol, glowering. “Manners here was trying to tell you idiots that someone else was coming.” Strolling over Fahrenheit took Vi’s wounded arm and examined it. Vi became ominously calm before she bent over and vomited. “She’s also wounded from my attack pretty deep, probably shock. I’ll take her to the Med Doc.” With one low movement Fahrenheit scooped Vi up into her arms.

“I’ll join you.” Nick followed closely obviously worried for his charge.

Hancock smiled at the departing people, and kept one sharp eye on the rest Frank’s known friends. From the moment Hancock read _Public Occurrences_ and the issue about the woman out of time his interest was piqued. If he were a betting man, and he was, Hancock would place bets on Vi and Piper’s mystery woman being one and the same. She wasn’t just to be watched. Now, he realized that she was trouble, but not trouble that came at you all at once. It was sideways trouble, unexpected and filled with all kinds of unknown

“Looks like I’ll be cleaning up out here, right, Frank?”

“I didn't know noting about those others, Hancock, I swear to god. Please you gotta believe me!” The man said panicked as the watch held him fast.

“Yeah, I’ll believe you,” Hancock motioned for some of his men to start cleaning up the mess. “after we have a nice long talk in my office. Just you, me, and a sword.”

* * *

 

_Vi,_

_I know it’s not what you wanted to hear, but it’s a lead. It’s better than nothing and nothing is what most folks get. I don’t have kids and never did so I’ll never understand. Yeah, Shaun is ten years older than you thought he’d be, but he’s alive, he’s healthy and chances are he’s gonna stay that way until you can find him. Count your blessings while you got em. I’m lucky you came around at all or I’d probably still be in that vault or being sold for parts._

_There is one upside, synth Kellogg, or whatever he called himself, was the one that murdered Nate and took your kid. So you killed the right guy. I’m going to keep tracking human Kellogg down. He has years of abductions and murders to answer for. I know you’ll understand._

_I’m leaving you in the hands of Goodneighbor for a few days. The Mayor is not exactly what you’d call a good man, but you can trust him. Honorable is a better word. He’s setting you up with a place to sleep and food for as long as you need it as payment for saving Fahrenheit._

_As Piper before me, I left in the night because you would have said no, like you always do, about people travelling alone._ _ **You need the rest.**_ _The doctor gave specific orders. You about had a stroke from one little soiree with Fahrenheit._

_Hell, I can see the indignant look on your face now and I’m not even gone. But I can travel without sleep, I can run full tilt for days if need be. I’ll just be quicker and safer without you, which means we get to that kid of yours all the sooner._

_There it is. The face of reason.  I’ll see you before you know it, doll, and send word if I get caught up. If we’re traveling to the glowing sea, we are taking every precaution we can._  
_~Nick_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MY GOD WHY IS IT SUCH TORTURE TO COPY MY WORK INTO THIS SITE
> 
> Thank you for waiting out these last few months. Holidays slow everything down.
> 
> Would people prefer smaller chapters and quicker updates or...? I'm just used to this sort of structure so I'll keep with it unless more than a few folks complain. :)


	8. Shroud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vi goes on a drug fueled rampage  
> Hancock is Hancock

_Missive to the Goodneighbor council of citizens,_

_I’ll start with the good news. According to Gally, we are finally cleared to open the residencies on the west of Goodneighbor. All the raiders and traps have been cleared from those buildings and defenses are set. Just need to tear down the current wall and expand. It’ll be good to see our recently added residents with someplace to live. Those without a way to contribute; well, I’m sure you can find them something to do. I don’t want to send anyone packing, but as things stand we’re not equipped to be a charity for very long either._

_Now, onto the shit._

_This past month rumors of bad batches of chems being smuggled out of Goodneighbor hit my desk via that damn newspaper from Diamond City._

_Let me be clear on a few things: We don’t trade with those elitist scum unless we trade at 200% the costs No drugs will ever leave Goodneighbor unless they are clean. People got enough to worry about in this world for anyone to get greedy and start selling bad batches. If I find out it’s one of our own doing this, I’m gonna take it_ _**extra** _ _personal._

_I think we all realize we’re turning into a real town soon enough. It’s been hard work these past ten years getting this place sorted, and soon even clean living folk will want to stay with us. People from all walks of life want to live without judgement. Live free. However, there’s an element that’s moved into our general territory recently that I’m sure we’ve all heard plenty about. These fuckers are far smarter than raiders. They’ve surrounded almost all of Goodneighbor and have set up allied trading with the triggermen, but when it comes down to it they act like raiders all the same. So far, I’ve kept a tenuous peace, but peace ain’t what they want and I think we all know where this is going soon enough._

_In the meantime, and until this situation gets finalized, any families come knocking you’ll have to send them on (with escorts of course), they say the Minutemen can always use farmers and guns._

_~Hancock_

___________

Glazed eyes vaguely registered the meal that Vi was slowly turning into pulp. As one hand supported her head, the other stabbed and raked the fork back and forth across the meat rhythmically. Other guests of the Third Rail were laughing, singing, or consorting, but to Vi they were a monotone hum of static. Just white noise that partially covered the droning of Kent as he continued to recount his fondest memories of The Silver Shroud and all the other trappings they left behind before the war. It was painfully apparent to Vi that all of his memories of the old world were far more idealistic and simplistic than she remembered.

“The Silver Shroud would have never put up with this. Hey do you remember that episode that turned out an entire corporation was part of some secret religion or cabal or something? I think about that a lot when I think about Vault-tec.” Kent sat next to her on the couch. 

Vi and Kent had been introduced under the flimsy similarity of being prewar. He reminisced with her about their lives before the war. Well, mostly Kent did the reminiscing. Maybe if she had 200 years to grieve the loss of their old lives, but it had been only a few months. The wound was so fresh, she listened blankly to Kent, but never tried to hide her despair with his memories.

“It’s like Vault-tec unleashed something on us. Something worse than the war.” Kent tossed back his beer and looked at Vi through heavy lids. A persistent sting rose from her chest into her limbs. 

> _ You were part of the problem, part of the disease. _

“I mean why else would hundreds - maybe thousands - of people do what they did to the vault dwellers? It was just plain evil and it’s seeped into the world.  _ Everywhere _ .”

Closing her eyes, Vi recalled her doubts with striking clarity. Her colleagues, managers, and leaders somehow all had this secret knowledge that she did not share.

> _ You always knew. You can’t hide what you are from me. I know your thoughts, your mind, your past. _

_ There was only two weeks until the announcement of the new Sr. Director of her department. Vi planned a barbeque with the promoting managers and other key people from HR. She would not let this opportunity slip by. Nate had been at war for the last ten years on and off and her fast track of success was rarely attributed to her skill, but instead sexual favors and other disgusting rumors. Vi deserves her promotions, of course, but that didn’t stop peers from whispering in hallways as she passed.  _

_ Her gaze did not falter as she questioned their policies and lies. They turned their faces, and their shallow smiles turned to grimaces as her questions persisted. As much as they avoided her, she was watched in the long winding corridors of laboratories under the offices. At the back of her head there was a disembodied eye. It lingered and watch her movements while she obediently obliged her masters. It was a silly figment of the imagination, but at night Vi was afraid all the same. _

> _ Admit. Submit. Relinquish to me, and we can reverse this together. _

“What’s wrong with me?” Vi whispered over her meal as she tried to push the intrusive thoughts away. The med doc drugged her and let her sleep after the fight with Fahrenheit, but the world just didn’t seem the same. Air was thick and oppressive. Shadows hovered darker and longer than before. The looks of strangers stabbed at Vi sharp and menacing. Logic demanded that her thoughts were some form of paranoia or even post traumatic stress, but the knowing didn’t stop it. Knowing only made her feel all those things  _ and _ helpless. 

“It’s not you. It’s this world. It’s sick.” Kent spoke softly as if someone was trying to listen in. “You can see it, can’t you? It’s clear; right behind their eyes. The evil’s getting audacious, moving closer to the surface each year. It reminds me of the old stories about sharks. You remember sharks right, Vi? I know they used to go into these feeding frenzies when they smelled blood. Well the blood is flowing and the sharks are growling.”

“Sharks don’t growl, Kent.” Vi’s mind reflexively attacked his statement not because of the details, but because of the overarching truth of it. Everything he said exactly mirrored how she felt in this very moment. At the nearby table resided a perfect example of this truth. The woman who sat facing her had it peering through. It was not a darkness that this woman hid, but a darkness that hid within her. As the woman blinked, Vi could almost hear the beast slamming against the cage door of her inner eye. The darkness was ravenous.

> _ Take my hand. Cleanse her. _

“Even murderers act like they can do what they want these days.” Kent said sadly as he took another drink. “That monster Wayne Delancy just walking around getting away with murdering Miss Selma and her kid.”

“He what?” Her face must have been so filled with anger that Kent looked terrified as he leaned away from her. Vision narrowing, Vi became dizzy. Her thoughts stretching far from being her own.

“Yeah, you heard me right…”, he stammered, “murdered a kid and his mom. Course there’s no proof, but I heard him bragging. Him and AJ both, they both murder kids, just in different ways.”

Spots filled Vi’s vision as the blood erupted. Her heart was banging like a war drum as she quickly scanned the room. The thick air now thinned out with trepidation. The shadows shrank in cowardice. The sharp, menacing looks now seemed to be the darting, nervous looks of the guilty. Turning back at Kent, she saw the same child-like innocence and optimism that he had always displayed. 

“Show me where he is.” She commanded.

Kent looked for long drawn moments. His jaundiced eyes locked onto hers and he nodded slowly. Finally he managed to snap out of it and led her out of the bar. 

> _ You will not regret as you have done. We will punish them all. _

_*_

The night air refreshed the senses as a waft of jet passed across his face. Fahrenheit passed the jet over before sneezing into her arm. Ink from letters written throughout the day smeared both their hands and stained the little inhaler. The smell of the chem alone made him smile as it was bound to distill the details of his beloved city. Shaking the canister vigorously, the sound echoed down the street and drowned out the distant voices. Work was done for the day and it was time to see what kind of mischief the town was brewing up tonight.

“Take a hit already, I need another.” Sloshing boots through the recently rained pavement, Fahrenheit kicked an empty bottle and sent it flying into a wall with a smash.

“You shoulda brought two.” Hancock raised the jet to his mouth feeling the warmth still there, but something stopped him. A question burned in his mind and he dropped his hand, “Do ya think I’m gettin’ slow?”

“No more than usual.” Large white teeth grinned at him, and grabbed the jet from his hands as if to prove a point. “Why, you feel slow? You are getting on in years...”

“Alright, enough of that.” Hancock looked down at himself and started to adjust the rings on his fingers. “It’s just this Sinjin business. I’m already half sure he’s got his people in here causing trouble. I would put my money on that murder being a Sinjin special trying to convince folks that we can’t keep em safe anymore.Years ago I woulda just got a group together and taken him out, but now i’m just...slow. ”

“It’s called being careful. _Years ago_ it was just you and like ten decent people.” Fahrenheit waved at the towering apartments next to them. “Now you got a couple hundred of folks counting on you to keep em safe. It’s not apples and apples.”

“They better fucking be there when I get back.”

She laughed as she spoke “You’ll never find proof of me cause it’s your ass who eats them when you get too high.”

“I won’t find proof because you’re too smart of a _deputy mayor.”_ He grinned. “Ya know, I like the sound of that. I think we should make it official.”

“Don’t you fucking dare…”

“Now look,” swinging his arm around Fahrenheit’s shoulders, Handcock side hugged her and she growled. “We both know you’ve been next to running things for a while. Yeah, you come to me for advice and let me make the hard decisions, but really, the rest is all you. Look at this city planning. Who had the idea to plant vegetables on the roof of any stable building so we don’t have to rely so heavily on trading for food?”

“So the fuck what. Daisy started the merchant stall row that got commerce booming and traders coming here again. It’s not a big deal.” Fahrenheit never wanted to take credit for her work and that worried Hancock.

“At this point I’m just the big scarey name that no one wants to mess with. I’m as much an idea as Goodneighbor was when we started it ten years back. Of the people for the people? I might have said it, but it’s way bigger than I ever can be.”

“People still need you.”

“Yeah, but I’m the past. People stayed on the level because of fear. But you. Well you’re a leader, like, a real one. Well educated, combat ready, and devious. People are scared of you cause they also respect you. You’re the future for this town if you want it.”

“I think I do, but seven hells, Hancock,” Fahrenheit took a double hit of the canister “this is heavy shit I thought we were going to get high?”

“You just need to work on that charisma...” He said as he fished a tin of mentats from his pocket.

“Hey, you see that?” Leaning forward with a squint, Fahrenheit tried to whisper but failed.

“What the hell is Kent Connolley doing out at night? He’s scared of his own shadow.” Stalking down the street, Fahrenheit pulled Hancock by the arm behind her. “Who’s he with? Is that the troublemaker whatshername?”

“Vi.” He said, trying to cover the small twinge of excitement at the idea. If she was up to trouble this would be the third time in two days. In one moment Vi acted like she wanted to be left alone, in the next she was seen wandering the streets of Goodneighbor at 3am with Kent Connolley.

“Uh oh. Looks like they’re headed towards Bobbie’s territory.” Hancock pulled out his shotgun. “Some rough characters hold up over there. We better go stop those two. Nick’ll have my head if she gets hurt again.”

“You wish.” Fahrenheit pulled her rifle from her back and made sure it was loaded. “I wish you’d leave your hardon for that synth outta goodneighbor business.”

“Hey now,” He scolded her. “Nicky ain’t done nothing but good for us.”

“Every time Nick Valentine walks into town he brings trouble and right now we don’t need it.” Fahrenheit glanced behind herself to see Hancock reminiscing with a smile. “And he’s always bringing some dame around who’s just your _type._ ”

“What? Beautiful? Angry? That’s most women around here.”

“Dangerous,” She reached out to punch his arm. “vicious, savage, _trouble_.”

“I resent that you think…” A shrill shriek brought Hancock to silence. There was a staccato of gunfire, followed by distinct shouting of a female voice.

“Monster! Your crimes have gone unpunished for too long!”

Hancock and Fahrenheit ran full tilt towards the corner where they last saw Kent. As he skirted the edge he came to an abrupt halt and put his arms up to stop Fahrenheit from going forward. The lights were out in the alley and everything was black, but he had stumbled on scenes like this enough to know blood looked very black in shadow. The moon came out just a little to form silhouettes. From a crumpled pile of shapes a figure brandished a single sword. Slowly the hourglass shape leaned down and held out it’s arm and helped a second shadow stand up.

Hancock and Fahrenheit walked backwards, returning to the range of dim lights. First Kent then Vi stepped out of the darkness. Vi did not look at them. She didn’t even acknowledge them as she continued her stride. Black splotches dripped and smeared sideways covering an expressionless face.

“What the hell?” Fahrenheit eyes carefully followed Vi. She did not put her weapon away.

“Vi did what you wouldn’t do, Mayor.” Kent staggered as he tried to keep up with the quick pace of his companion. “She gave those people, those kids, justice. She’s a hero, like the Silver Shroud. The kinda hero this town needs.”

Leaning against a nearby wall, Hancock put his hand to his head. He tried processing what would have to happen next and all the ways it could go horribly wrong. This wasn’t just some alleyway justice. This wouldn’t be covered up easy knowing Kent’s mouth.

“You hear that? A _hero_ just started the next great gang war.” She laughed one of those awkward uneasy laughs.

“Did we just witness Kent - Kent Fucking Connelly - help that woman take out two stone cold fuckers from Sinjin’s crew?” He asked.

“T-there’s gotta be a way to spin this? Maybe play up the vigilante angle? Anyone could easily believe those two could piss off the wrong woman.”

“Yeah, that’s good. It doesn't have to be tied to us, to Goodneighbor.” Hancock started to breath a little easier. “We can’t take Sinjin head on, we ain’t ready. We gotta do this another way.” After a moment he laughed.

“What the fuck is funny to you?” She shouted. “What did I say? _Trouble.”_

“Yeah, for as shit deep we’re in, it kinda feels like the old days.”

Sighing, Fahrenheit leaned against the wall next to him. “This ain’t good no matter how we sling it.”

“But it finally gives us the kick in the ass we been needing to mobilize.”

“Watch your hat, Hancock, or she’ll take that next.”

“Well great. Now I’m going to be thinking about her in my clothes instead of important shit. C’mon, let’s go get a bottle and start planning our hits with care.”

 

* * *

 

The lights barely lit the room, and Hancock, with propped feet, looked at the tiles decaying on the ceiling. The springs in the couch gave their familiar squeaks as he leaned into the usual spots. He knew everything about this room, how it would react to each interaction and where every crack and faded piece of paint was. Over the past decade he’d come to call it home. It was cozy, warm, comfortable...

Three bangs on the statehouse downstair doors alerted the residents that someone was calling at an indecent hour, even for Goodneighbor. Billy, one of Hancock’s most trusted watchmen, was positioned at the entrance of the state house and argued incoherently with the person. Everyone was welcome in Goodneighbor, even the drifters looking for a night of rest could find it in the attic of the statehouse, but it never hurt to check folks out in passing.

The stomping of boots alerted Hancock to someone approaching with authority and speed.

The night before Hancock and Fahrenheit devised a plan to start taking out key elements of Sinjin’s network. He was like a spider branching out all around the city, but most of his people were hapless. Without the key leadership they would delve to in-fighting, be easy to overrun, and mostly cover up what had been happening in Goodneighbor. There was some good ‘talent’ unaffiliated with Goodneighbor. They weren’t cheap, but no good work was. Unluckily, MacCready, one of their best paid assassins, had been MIA for a few months.

The next day Vi rolled into his office asking for work. Asking to “be of service” looking to rid the world of anyone looking to do harm to the innocent. Hancock knew he made a promise to Nick, but Vi was a grown woman after all and plenty capable of holding her own in a fight. Besides, she started the war and she could help them clean it up. Hancock sent her with one of his most trusted contacts.

It wasn’t until they were gone that he realized Kent was announcing Vi on the radio as the Silver Shroud, and basically letting the world know she killed Wayne and AJ. That was a complication, but if a fictional character could take the heat for the targeted attacks happening today...well, all the better _._

“The deed is done, Mayor. The creatures you set me upon have been removed. Sent back to hell with their masters.” The voice called out from behind a wide brimmed hat given to her by Kent. The hat of the damn Shroud himself. He could see Vi’s blood matted curls hanging loose from her pins.

“Yeah? Well, it’s pretty damn late why don’t you come take a rest by me.” He patted the cushion next to his outstretched leg. Without any reaction Vi crossed the room and sat beside him nearly crushing his leg. A little flustered he moved away from her. She turned her knees inward toward him and he could see the scraped flesh under the ripped leggings.

“You see anything you want you can take it.” He motioned for the coffee table strewn with drugs and food and caps.

She sat perfectly straight and licked the dirt from her lips under the brim of the wide grey hat. As she removed the hat her eyes pierced his with a desperate sort of wideness.

“You don’t have what I want.”

“That’s a little presumptive, but I don’t take offence. Beautiful woman like you probably gets plenty of offers far better than mine.”

“You’re a wanted man.” Reaching out quickly, she grabbed his shoulder and held him still. Slowly she leaned in. “The darkness battles in you, it wants you, but you fight it.” Vi’s intense expression peered into him as her hand reached up to cup his face.

“I don’t always fight it, darlin’.” Transfixed, as she leaned ever closer, he could finally see the details of her eyes. Each whited pupil dilated to it’s maximum size.

_Fuck._

Her sudden intimacy was understood straight away. This was the sort of thing that Hancock recognized all too quickly, and admonished himself for not seeing sooner. It put her actions entirely out of her own control. Was she like this before he sent her on the mission this morning? She could have wandered off and died in an alley from whatever high she was on, let alone sending her to two of the largest killers in the area.

“Still, you’re a good man, John Hancock.” She spoke softly and it made him almost sad that none of this was real.

“Alright, that settles it then. What you been taking? Psycho with some day tripper mixed in? Jetfuel? Or maybe some of that new stuff Fred’s cooking up?” Taking her hand from his face, Hancock placed a Med-X into her palm. “Maybe you need to sleep this one off.”

“I have never put poisons in my flesh, and now is not the time to start when there is so much work to be done.” She said dropping the Med-X to the ground.

“Alright, but let’s just get some sleep…”

“I can’t sleep. I must be the hand of avenging justice. The cries of the innocent will keep me awake until I have paid for my own crimes.” Reaching her hands out to his face once again he pulled back slightly. “You understand. Surely you do. I see it in you.”

“Alright look,” Pausing for a moment under the weight of her consternation, Hancock cleared his throat and started to get up. “All I understand is that you’re high on something. Maybe even against your own will. Listen, Vi,”

“Vi is dead. I’ve taken her place. Kent says I’m the Silver Shroud, but I don’t believe we are so easily defined.” Her voice was so crisp and intense and her breathing was far from even. In that moment Hancock would have found the whole thing funny if it wasn’t so fucking terrifying.

 _She’s fuckin serious._ Whatever drug she’d been exposed to gave her the idea to remake herself. He didn’t know if her guilt was real or a delusion. He didn’t even know Vi past her name and affiliations.

“Alright, _sister_ , when’s the last time you slept?” If he had to guess from the halo of red and black around her eyes and the shake in her hands it had been a few days. Maybe even before she walked into Goodneighbor for the first time.

_What the hell is she on?_

“Time doesn't matter when evil can be found on every corner. Waiting in all hearts to be freed upon the world.” Grasping at her breast, Vi looked like she was pushing past pain. Hancock caught a glimpse of blood seeping from behind the bodice.

“I hear ya...” He started to walk around the back of the couch and noticed that her eyes no longer followed him. Seizing the open opportunity, Hancock lunged at her from behind the couch and pushed the needle deep into her neck.

“Sorry about this.” As if giving someone a drug while they were hopped up on another wasn’t bad enough, now he was drugging her against her will. Consent was very important to Hancock, but this was looking more and more like an emergency.

“I hope you thank me, if ya live.” He cradled her head as it lolled to the side, and he slowly laid her onto her back. Quickly he pulled open her jacket and lifted her bodice looking for the wound.

“You’re a lucky one.” He said to the unconscious Vi as he examined the grazing bullet wound on her ribcage. “Looks like you and me need to take a trip to the doc... _again_.”

 

_Fahre,_

_Try to keep a straight face when you read this, but yeah, you were right. Go on suck it up, but in the meantime you gotta keep Nick Valentine from coming after us. This is some serious shit and I want to take care of it personally._

_Amari says she’s not seen a drug like this before. It’s in her brain. In her neurological processes and it’s attached or something. Long story short, she thinks the only folks that can help are over in vault 81. Apparently they have some good data on infectious diseases and hallucinogenic drugs et al. and might have something to help. It’s a long shot, but I’ve got to try._

_~J.H._

 

* * *

 

The travelling party ended up as Hancock, Vi heaped inside a brahmin cart, and KLEO who had offered to come along. Normally Hancock would have taken more people given the delicate nature of his cargo, but he had to keep his city safe. This was a tenuous time directly after taking out Sinjin’s lieutenants, but he didn’t worry much. _KLEO_ , she was more than enough.

Amari warned not to give Vi any more Med-X in case it reacted negatively to whatever was coursing through her system (and not depreciating.) Still, she had slept for easily 20 hours in the back of the cart. When Vi woke it was enough to calm her by saying they were headed to people who needed her help. Hancock didn’t mind being a ghoul for many reasons, but this time it was the stamina and little need for sleep that he was thankful for.

“Radiation in the rain is at unsafe levels for a human, but it’s nice and warm for me.” KLEO announced as the sky opened with thick rain and green flakes over her smooth metal head. “Sensors indicate an abandoned shelter to the west. Better get a move on if we want this one to survive.”

“Damn. Brahmin’s spooked.” Hancock tugged at the reigns always keeping one eye on Vi who was was creepier when silent than when she was shooting off mouthfuls of random diatribe.  “Kleo can you get Vi to safety? I’ll follow shortly.”

“Runtime conclusion: That’s a dumbass plan. I’m far stronger, more suited to hold a runaway brahmin in place, and Vi is easier to manage for your weaker disposition. Although she and I _do_ share a passion for murder, this is still a better plan. I should scan the area to make sure unknowns do not try to head to our shelter.” KLEO hummed as Hancock nodded not looking to argue with the robot woman.

Without any argument, Hancock took Vi’s hand and started running her towards the shelter in the distance. The small cabin became clear through the fog, but Hancock felt a small tug on his arm. Vi slowed her pace and winced at him.Worried, he stopped and checked her pulse. Amari had warned about this. Whatever drug was in Vi was also kicking her adrenaline and heart rate to dangerous levels. Strain for too long could cause outright heart failure.

_I didn’t bring her this close to 81 to see her die now._

“Dammit lady, I’ve got to get you to shelter. If that means carrying ya it’s what I’m gonna do, but I don’t want to spook you either so...” He tried to stretch his arm out as if to ask permission.

Jerking her hand away suddenly, Vi shook her head. “Leave me. Just…” She looked up into the radiation sprinkled downpour and her face was washed nearly clean with the intensity of it. When she looked back at Hancock her eyes pleaded. “...give me justice.”

“Sorry, we ain’t got time for this.” Leaning over, Hancock, shoved her waist into his shoulder and lifted her. Turning to the cabin, he was able to run quickly even with her added weight because, to his surprise, she did not fight him. The cabin opened without much protest and he plopped Vi down in the center of a filthy rug. Sealed with a decent bit of skill, there was very little rain or wind creeping into the shack even with the violent storm outside. Realizing that this storm could continue for hours, he dropped his backpack and started digging in it. Rad-X was probably not the best idea, but neither was losing her to radiation poisoning before they got to 81.

“Vi deserves to die. You should let this body die.” Vi mumbled to herself, but clearly talking to Hancock.

“She seemed pretty alright to me.” Holding up the Rad-X, Hancock held out a tin of purified water. She took it and the Rad-X without any struggle or complaint. Hancock was starting to get the impression that, in her current state of mind, she would follow any instructions that wasn’t outright murdering children. Feeling very relieved that he was the one watching her back instead of virtually anyone else, Hancock pulled a blanket out of his pack and tossed it to her. “Nick Valentine likes Vi just fine, and he’s a tough nut to crack.”

“Nick Valentine is lucky. He doesn’t hear the voices. He’s immune to the darkness. There is no other side calling to him through wake and sleep.” Sitting squarely in the center of the room, Vi looked over at the blanket that Hancock had thrown. Her eyes scanned it with interest and distrust. “He just _iiiisss…_ ” Her mouth lingered on the word as if it was telling an entire story on it’s own. “and no persuasion, no matter the strength of the source, can change him.”

“Yeah I suppose being made of metal has some advantage.” Honestly, Hancock had heard some wild things come out of drugged up folks in his time, but this was all manner of different and creepy. It was a sound plan to ignore most of what she was saying or start jumping at shadows himself. “You should take your coat off, it’s wet and yer shivering.”

“You must stop, mayor, and come to the inevitable conclusion I have. This life is not worth saving. Nick Valentine will never know, because Vi would never tell him. She would never tell anyone, but I will tell you…”

“ _I’d rather you not._ I’ve got a distinct feeling Vi wouldn’t want her secrets known without her prior approval.” Hancock sat down on the broken mattress near the edge of the room.

“It was before the world was like this.” Scratching her nails into the soft wood of the shack, Vi leaned her face towards the ground, “200 years past the bombs, the unrest, the loneliness in this heart.”

“You, _I mean Vi_ , really was that popsicle Piper wrote about huh?.” Hancock propped his feet up and started to get out his knife to sharpen. The storm rattled him if he tried to lean against the outer wall. “Still, I met plenty of prewar folks. In general, ain’t nothing so bad about it.”

“Ambitions and pride, those were the sins that started it. It took her, swept her, into a life of empty excuses. Dark and cruel. The light was here first, but then...” Pounding her fist into her breast, Vi looked up with a fierce expression. Animals got that same look when they were about to attack, cornered and afraid. Hancock gripped his knife tighter as his other hand moved towards his shotgun.

“She saw it, worked it, lived it,” Vi continued, “the nefarious plans Vault-tec designed. Scattered papers, missent mail, whispered words. All the evidence was there. At her fingertips the schematics of thousands of devices of torment, torture, and despair passed her desk. _Vi said nothing_. She convinced herself it was imaginings. Science...the betterment of humanity, indications of all too foul intentions. Her guilt, her _ambitions_ forbade her to see what was right there, but the nightmares betrayed her and manifested the truth. She knew, had always known, Vault-tec offered up it’s inhabitants to the madness, and in the end it did the same to her.”

Saying nothing, Hancock just watched as she slipped into this trance of her memories. It was horrible to witness, whether true or not, because he knew first hand how feeling responsible for something lingered at your gut, like a fire ready to destroy a city.

“You could end her here. ” Her glassed over eyes locked with his in an accusatory fashion.

Attempting to appear calm, Hancock nodded “Or I could just let Vi live because she ain’t done nothing but good since we met. Killing folks because they “didn’t do what they shoulda” is not the same as killing folks who murder outright.” His throat grew dry as he said it, desperately wanting to believe the words. Not too long ago he let the dregs walk all over the good people of the world. He wanted to believe that there was always a path to do better even for the lowest of low.

_If I can change, anyone can._

“In the end, the universe sought to bring parity. Objectively and impartially were gods taking from her a small portion of what she had taken. The blameless punished for the sake of balance. Her husband, guiltless as he was, murdered. Her child, innocent as he was, taken.”

“Holy... Listen, this is not something you want to share with me...”

Vi’s fist slammed into the old, rotted floor as her tone became explosively righteous, “It’s not Justice! Her suffering does not bring back those she wronged…”, her arms swung in a wide arch as she continued, “...and all those around her will continue to be crushed under the weight of her unending expiation.”

“All those forgotten souls, lost in the vaults…”, Vi went on despite a soft rolling of tears, “...they must be repaid. Their lost lights must be offset by the illumination of Vi’s own soul. I can make her shine so bright that all of hell will cringe in fear. I will burn her light so white-hot that it consumes her entirely, but this cannot undo the effect she has had, nor the continued corruption her presence will cause.” Vi’s voice toned down, dropped lower and seemed to be her own again as she wiped away the tears. “Or…” her shoulders dropped in defeat, “you can kill me now.”

He wasn’t sure what to say. He knew how it felt to want to die. To pay for your sins with one easy out, but that wasn’t the way he chose. He hoped someday, if Vi could come out of this bad trip, she would agree. “One bullet can buy revenge, but justice that’s...a bit costly and takes time.”

The rain intensified against the tin roof of the shack to unbearable levels. Vi remained silent after her outburst, and Hancock was thankful. If there was one thing that could keep a man awake at night, it was introspection. Her words shone a light on Hancock’s own darker notions for his future. Intolerable was one word to describe how he felt, and the fact that he couldn’t get high right now made it worse. At least he could be there for someone the way Daisy had been there for him.

  
Hancock had some hope left yet and could spare a bit. He hoped the fucking rain would stop. He hoped 81 would have a cure for Vi, and he hoped that someday he could forget her words that were never meant for him. It wasn’t right. Knowing someone’s secrets without their go-ahead. Not right at all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no explanation for this chapter. *buries face in hands and hides* I just like it ok??!?!
> 
> I actually cut this in half thanks to the wonderful suggestion of my dear friend and new beta!! 
> 
> A new chapter will be up soon I just have a little tie-in to write! :D


	9. Vault 81

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet Curie  
> Vi gets cured

On arrival at vault 81 Hancock had to pledge not only 3 fusion cores, but also his promise to not send any chems without the explicit approval of the Overseer McNamera before they led the party into the infirmary. He got it, watching out for your own first and foremost, but he had done them some favors in the past, and it seemed 81 should do well to remember their friends on the outside, even if their friends were degenerates like Goodneighbor.

Walking through the Vault, Hancock watched Vi fall behind them. She had said nothing since her outburst in the shack. Visibly sweating and anxious, her glassy eyes darted around the vault as if it would grow arms and strangle her at any moment. As they approached the infirmary a shouting exploded and a crowd started to form.

“You have to save him, he’s just a baby!”

“I’m running the tests as fast as I can, Pricilla. The boy has some kind of molerat disease. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I doubt we’re going to be able to cure it until we can get our hands on the the source of the infection.” Turning in place Dr. Forsyth shook his head before noticing Hancock in the crowd of blue.

“Mayor Hancock, I know you said you had an emergency case, but you’ll have to wait for a while longer. I’m sorry, but we’ve got a very sick child on our hands.”

“Anything we can do to help?” Hancock walked past the onlooking Vault dwellers.

“Not unless any of you are experienced doctors.”

“Doc, I know what bit him.” A boy emerged from the crowd, Hancock noting a waft of jet coming from his clothes. “There’s a secret panel behind the reactors…some other vault where I keep my...supplies. It’s dangerous in there though, but the molerats...they’re in that place”

“Bobby, you’re a genius! A junky genius!” The woman began clamouring loudly and grabbed Hancock’s coat. “You can help us after all, Mayor! Just get us a sample of whatever hurt my grandson and we might be able to cure him, in the meantime we’ll make sure to help you however you need.”

“Alright, well let’s hope you can start checking on my friend here while we go hunt this thing down.” He said reassuring the older woman.

“Mayor, darlin’, you may want to…” KLEO moved forward to get Hancock’s attention in the midst of the commotion. “while you were preoccupied, Slippery Shroud slipped away. Sensors indicate she’s moving quickly towards the lower levels.”

“The reactor is that way.” Bobby said quickly moving towards the door.

“Yeah,” Hancock sighed, “I’ve no doubts it is. She’s going to save the kid and now we have two things to worry about. Lead the way, _junky genius_.”

*

It really didn't matter how fast they moved, KLEO’s sensors always saw Vi further and further off. Reminding himself that it was his fault for not watching her closer, Hancock understood that Vi had a working knowledge of these vaults, of their layout, in a way that few did. At the very least, it was likely she was leading them straight to what they needed to find even if she was pushing herself to the brink of exhaustion while doing it.

Three days. That’s how long Amari had given her heart before it gave out from stress.

 _We’ve already lost thirty hours so whatever they’re going to do for Vi better be quick._ Normally he wouldn’t sweat the details so much, but it was something to think about instead of the fact he chased a madwoman around this man-made sardine can with his only back-up being a psychotic killbot.

Yeah, he heard the stories about vaults. He knew, like most, that folks living in vaults were either real lucky or really, really messed up. It was more likely to be the second. No one really knew why this pre-war company did what they did to people. Even Vi seemed without answers only sentiments of paranoia and guilt. It made Hancock nervous. All around were the remnants of an experiment that had gone wrong. An experiment that was meant to be a detriment to those good folks on the other side of 81. Sure, things turned out different this time, but that was rare in vaults. In this scenario the persecutors became afflicted with their own test subjects, evidenced by the extra tough and overly mutated molerats they ran into.

 _I guess_ , He thought wickedly, _the only time everything turns out alright is when something goes wrong._

“This wears on the goods, Baby. If my paint gets chipped I expect full compensation.” KLEO sounded annoyed as her cyclopean laser eye fired at another rat that appeared from the rubble around them.

“Add it to my tab.” he said smirking. “Not as though this is costing me a bucket of caps already or anything.”

“There, in that pile of sliced meat, Vi’s genetic signature” KLEO stated matter-of-factly as she pointed up ahead. “Looks like the rat got a taste before she minced it. Wound pattern analysis: Sword. Didn’t know I could feel love like this.” KLEO hummed her approval of Vi’s weapon choice, but Hancock examined the trail of blood leading away from the scene. Tracking her would be easy even without KLEO at this stage.

“Well, at least we’ll have plenty of samples for the Doctor when we get out of this crypt.” Hancock pulled his long coat tighter and shivered. Vaults were not only creepy, they were unnatural as hell. Even without the terrible things Vault-tec had done, everything from their cold smooth walls, to their moldy smells spelled, danger, decay, tomb. He hated them.

KLEO tracked Vi past a security locked door and into what was actually, really a crypt. The first thing they saw was three lockers laid down like little coffins. On top were candles, flowers, and other such memorabilia commonly found at a funeral. The sight was otherworldly and disturbing even to someone like Hancock.

“Pardon, Madame et Monsieur,” A soft sweet voice called from behind a brightly lit pane of glass.

“Mademoiselle KLEO, Darlin’.” KLEO responded to the white hovering robot behind the glass.

“Oh, mais oui, pardon, but I believe the human in front of my door needs my attention.”

“What?” Turning roughly Hancock looked for her, and barely caught her crumpled form in the deep shadow. She lay on her side and he ran up to her and checked her pulse. She was alive, but that wasn’t the issue. Despite the fact she was lying prone, her breathing was like she was running a marathon. Her eyes wide open. “We need to get her back to Forsyth, _now_.”

“S’il vous plait, if you are from vault-tec security I can open the door locks and assess the damage to Madame.”

“I’m whatever you want me to be.” KLEO said as she checked the nearby panel for a map and perhaps quicker access back to the other side of the vault.

“Very good, Mademoiselle KLEO.” The lock clicked open and the white robot hovered out and neared Vi. With several whirs of her various mechanical arms, the robot dipped a needle into Vi’s arm and drew blood. “Aside from a very strong hallucinogenic neurotoxin, Madame is suffering from the disease that my poor babies carry with them.”

“You got all that in five seconds?” Hancock looked over the robot has he held Vi’s head in his hands.

“My analysis is almost instantaneous once a proper sample can be taken.” The eyestalk of the robot wiggled as she examined him. “I am programed to deal with all these symptoms as well as remedy her condition, but I have never seen anything like yourself, Monsieur.”

“Nevermind that.” He huffed. “Do whatever you gotta to get her better.”

“No.” Vi called out. Her breath calmed for a moment. “the boy, we return the panacea to the boy. Curie, tell them…”

“Madame is correct. The effect of the disease will become permanent if not cured within a few hours of contraction, and in children could be quite fatal.”

If he didn't know better, Hancock would think that fate was out to get him. Everything was going to go wrong with this woman. There was just no way that things could ever go right. Maybe her drug addled delusions were correct after all, maybe she was cursed.

“Let me guess, you only have the one dose?”

“Sadly, the other doses have deteriorated with time, but this could save the boy quite quickly.” Curie used her many arms to pick up a few bags near her laboratory. “Do not worry, I am confident that if Madame’s heart survives the long travel back to the infirmary I can save her life after that of the boy.”

“Looks like I found a quicker way up.” Buzzing with excitement, KLEO slammed her fist into the nearby power panel to open a hidden door.

Carefully, Hancock reached his arms under Vi and lifted her. Her eyes fluttered closed and then shut, and a small gasp left her lips as they tightened. “Scream all you want if it hurts. I’m gonna make sure you live yet.”

* * *

 

Muscles ached and strained their disapproval at her movement, but the bed under her was so soft. A moan of approval emerged as her face sunk deep into a pillow and the scent of clean sheets. She tried to think of the last time she’d been in a bed so nice…

Vi’s eyes shot open as she remembered she was not safe at all. She was in this barren, sickened wilderness, looking for a child she could never find. Everything was horrific, everything was pointless. Hands clawed and swiped at sheets; a soft yell started to emerge from her as feet kicked bedding to the side. She was suddenly cold, not in her clothes, but something loose fitting and light. Everything was dark. Panic set in as she clamoured backward and the cold concrete of vault walls pressed firmly against her back.

“Hey, hey there. You’re good.” A low gravelled voice whispered to her in the darkness and then a light flicked on. “It’s alright.” In the far corner of the room sat a man. As her eyes adjusted she could see a half asleep ghoul wearing a very distinct hat.

“Mayor Hancock?” She asked confused, “Why are you...”

Then like the rush of adrenaline after a long jog, the memories of the past days came back all at once. The building where it had been so hard to breath where she met Cait and Strong. Cait had warned her about the drug. Then there was her fight with Fahrenheit in Goodneighbor, then Kent in the bar... and her mind was both foggy and clear. Both in control of her actions and not.

She could remember the things she saw, in great detail. Monsters waiting in forgotten corners; writhing tentacles forcing their way out of mouths; limbs snapping backwards as a human transformed into something more.

She had murdered people while on that drug. It mattered little to Vi if they deserved it, they were dead because of her. She had left a trail of blood that she wasn’t prepared to leave. Hadn’t meant to leave. Kellogg had made fun of her, hinted that she was a harbinger of death, and now he was right.

“You’ve been on a hell of a trip.”

“Where are my clothes?” She asked as if that was the only thing that somehow mattered.

“81 is always kind enough to launder and shore up my old rags. They did the same for you. If you look they even cleaned under your fingernails.” Adjusting his freshly patches and well pressed jacked, he pointed to a nearby table. Her dress and stockings were folded up neatly.

“So, what can you remember?” Hancock kept his voice low and motions slow as he spoke.

“ _Oh no.”_ Her hands shot up and covered her mouth. Like every guilty thought she’d ever had expunged in one moment. All her darkest thoughts and deepest fears, let out to a complete stranger. She was exposed. Any last bit of control she had over her anonymity, lost in overshare. Vi’s eyes glazed over as she watched Hancock stare her down with the steadiest of eyes. Quickly, she looked away. There was a distinct fear that the visions of crawling things would return and swarm inside the blackness of his gaze.

“That much, huh?” Leaning back, Hancock sat at the chair in the corner of the room. He pulled a cigarette from his coat pocket and lit it. “It’s good you remember. Better that way.”

“Better?!” She shouted suddenly, and then worked diligently to regain her composure, partially holding her breath.

“Better than guessing or wondering if I’m lying to you, yeah it’s better.” He peered out from under his hat, and Vi instantly regretted saying anything.

“You brought me here to get me cured. I expect it also saved my life. I should be thanking you...” Sucking in the stale, chemically recycled air of the vault, her breath caught when his head tilted at her gratitude.

He _knew_. He knew all about her past, the things she could barely admit to herself, and judged her for it. No one in their right mind would want the thanks of a murderer, a monster. This man, ghoul, _stranger_ knew her better than anyone else in the entire world and just the idea sent Vi heavily gasping for air. Tears rolled up and and she fought against the sour sting at her temples.

“You still seeing things?” he asked “They said there might be permanent damage. I can’t imagine the kind of shit you saw. It’s bad enough to see this ugly mug, but then have it extra monstrous. Yikes.”

“What?” Hancock’s joke broke her emotional bearings as she awkwardly laughed. Tears started to fall, controlled and minimal, but there all the same. “I’m sorry to laugh, that’s terrible.”

“No it’s good. It’s good to laugh and cry. Lets ya know you still feel it.” Tossing the pack of cigarettes to the bed next to her, Hancock nodded. Turning her head, she felt strangely consoled in the gesture. “The trouble ain’t the guilt. It’s when you stop feeling it. The moment you go numb is when the real problem starts.”

Reaching down, Vi picked up the cigarettes and stared at the faded box as if waiting for an instinct to kick in. A desire to smoke, or speak, or rage, or just do anything at all but cry.

“But that’s the last you’ll ever hear me speak of it. What you said to me; that wasn’t you, not really. So I’m going to forget it, all of it, cause it wasn’t my business. Besides, you were high as a kite and why would I trust the word of someone in that state?” Straightening his coat, Hancock got up and moved towards the door of the room. “It’ll stay forgot unless you say otherwise.”

Drips of liquid smeared the print on the cigarette pack in her hands. Fingers trembled and the pack crumpled under the weight of her tightening fists. Vi’s body clenched from the desperation she fought off. “Thank you. Again.”

“Let’s not mention it anymore. I wasn’t gonna bother you so soon, but I think it would be worse if ya didn’t hear it from me.”

Vi braced herself.

“I just got word from Goodneighbor. Sinjin's gang bust into town last night. They ghoulnapped Kent, beat up Irma, and now they're demanding to to see the Silver Shroud - or else.”

  
“The...the radio program?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse for the lateness of this chapter. Depression is a bitch. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy. :)


End file.
